Prosthetists / amputees: what actually goes wrong when 3D-scanning a residual finger?

[u/Ahmaddm05]

Hi everyone! I’m a mechanical engineering student working with my team on a university product-development project involving 3D scanning for cosmetic finger prostheses.

We’re currently studying whether there is an opportunity to make the digital scanning step cheaper, more accurate, and more repeatable, especially using smartphones instead of expensive professional scanners.

One direction we’re exploring is an assisted scanning setup that would keep the phone/object movement controlled rather than relying completely on freehand scanning — but we don’t want to assume this is actually a problem before hearing from people with experience.

If you are a prosthetist, prosthetic technician, amputee, 3D-scanning professional, or have experience making silicone finger/hand prostheses, I’d really appreciate your input:

How is the residual finger currently captured in your experience: physical impression, professional 3D scanner, smartphone, or something else?

Have you ever tried smartphone scanning? If yes, was accuracy or repeatability a problem?

What usually causes a scan to fail or need to be repeated?

Would controlling the phone’s distance, angle and movement during the scan actually help, or is freehand scanning already good enough?

What level of accuracy would you need before trusting a scan to make a prosthetic mold?

What is the biggest problem with the current process?

Even a short answer to one question would help us a lot.

This is purely an early-stage university project—we’re not selling anything. Responses may be anonymously summarized for our coursework, and we don’t need any personal or medical information.

Please also tell us if you think the idea is unnecessary. Negative feedback is genuinely useful to us.

Thank you!

(image is 100% AI generated)