ABSTRACT
The Value of Reverse Engineering in Patient Care ................................ 167 Reverse Engineering Methods................................................................... 169
Digitizing ................................................................................................ 169 Case Example: Using a Low-Cost Scanner to Digitize a Vertebra ........................................................................................ 169
Using a Flatbed Scanner for Three-Dimensional Reconstruction...... 173 Cannibalizing an Existing Device ........................................................ 173
Why Reinvent the Handle?............................................................... 174 Case Study: Building on an Existing Product for Higher Performance......................................................................................... 174 Case Example: Making Your Own Stent......................................... 176
Where to Find Used Medical Devices and Equipment .......................... 177 Three-Dimensional Reconstruction........................................................... 179
Common Three-Dimensional Capture File Formats and Terminology......................................................................................... 180
Continuity ................................................................................................... 181 Automated Touch Probe....................................................................... 183 Light Beam Scanners............................................................................. 183 Arm Probe Scanners.............................................................................. 184 Arm Probe Noncontact Scanners ......................................................... 185 Three-Dimensional Image Reconstruction........................................... 185
Reverse Engineering and Inspection........................................................ 186 Destructive Reverse Engineering .............................................................. 186 Reverse Modeling, Radiology, and Surgical Planning ............................ 186
Resources.................................................................................................... 187 Used and Reconditioned Medical Equipment Vendors...................... 187 Bones and Bone Models ...................................................................... 188 Three-Dimensional Software ................................................................ 189 Three-Dimensional Capture Equipment .............................................. 190 Three-Dimensional Service Bureaus .................................................... 190 MRI and CT Reconstruction and RP Modeling................................... 190 Three-Dimensional Scanning and Manufacturing Inspection ............ 191 Professional Societies and Resources .................................................. 191
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)..................................... 191 Three-Dimensional Information Websites ....................................... 191 ACM Siggraph.................................................................................... 191 Forensic Engineering ........................................................................ 192
Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something apart to see how it works and making a product that functions, in whole or part, like the original product, or as an intermediate step to an improvement on the original product. It is an attempt to recover as much of the “top level specification”1 of a product as possible, and understand how and why a product works. Other related concepts to reverse engineering are reverse modeling and image reconstruction. In this chapter will be a discussion of the general subject of reverse engineering, case examples, and a list of resources.
