BotScan simultaneously uses 70 DLSR cameras to create insanely detailed 3D scans

By Dyllan Furness Published September 13, 2016

Botspot, a Berlin-based company, claims it can take a complete 3D scan of your whole body in just 0.01 seconds. At that speed, by the time you finish blinking, the Botscan’s 70 high-resolution DSLR cameras have scanned your body more than 30 times, detecting every visible wrinkle, dimple, and freckle on your body with some 16.7 million possible colors. Converting these images to data points puts detailed 3D models into the hands of printers, developers, doctors, and designers.

To convert the scan to data, Botspot uses a process called photogrammetry and plays a kind of 3D connect-the-dots, reconstructing an object by connecting points its cameras captured at different angles. The resulting models are near-exact replicas of objects from the size of an insects to a car.

Drew Prindle/Digital Trends

Drew Prindle/Digital Trends

Botspot displays detailed figurines of an alien creature and the company’s management at its IFA booth in Berlin. But the remarkable detail captured by the device may make it practical for architects, animators, video game developers, and even doctors.

In the past three years, Botspot has established partnerships with companies from healthcare to the auto industry. At Berlin’s Ottobock Science Center, a Botscan helps doctors take an amputee’s precise measurements in order to then manufacture a prosthetic. And, in a recent partnership with a German car maker, Botspot is now developing a drive-through scanner.

Few movements are too fast for Botscan to capture. When a TV show ran a feature on the device, they challenged the company to scan a reporter as she poured a glass of wine. “It was too easy,” Botspot representative René Strien told Digital Trends. “The Botscan didn’t even smile about it.”

With a price range from around €80,000 ($90,000) to €130,000 ($145,000), the Botscan is far from a consumer device — which, now, may wipe the smile of your face as well.

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Dyllan Furness is a freelance writer from Florida. He covers strange science and emerging tech for Digital Trends, focusing…

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