"We are interested in understanding how bodies change shape over time," according to the survey. The invite comes from Amazon's new 3-D body scanning unit, an outgrowth of its acquisition last year of computer vision startup Body Labs. Accurately predicting how a pair of jeans or a suit will fit is a Holy Grail for retail. Technology to model a human body and how clothing will look on it has a wide range of applications, from being able to prevent returns of ill-fitting garments to on-demand printing and production. Startups and research teams have sprung up around the world to tackle the problem.

Give us your feedback Thank you for your feedback. Germany's Max Planck Society creates Nobel Prize winners. Most recently, in 2014, physicist Stefan Hell, one of its scholars, was recognised for a breakthrough in microscope technology, allowing much smaller structures -- less than 200 nanometres -- to be seen. Commercialising this kind of highbrow abstract research, however, has been a different matter. While the alumni of California's Stanford University have filled Silicon Valley with start-ups, Germany's research institutes have not created clusters on the same scale.

Germany's Max Planck Society creates Nobel Prize winners. Most recently, in 2014, physicist Stefan Hell, one of its scholars, was recognised for a breakthrough in microscope technology, allowing much smaller structures -- less than 200 nanometres -- to be seen. Commercialising this kind of highbrow abstract research, however, has been a different matter. While the alumni of California's Stanford University have filled Silicon Valley with start-ups, Germany's research institutes have not created clusters on the same scale. A new tech hub -- Cyber Valley -- in southern Germany between Stuttgart and Tübingen, is attempting to create new kinds of collaboration between academics and businesses.

Give us your feedback Thank you for your feedback. Germany's Max Planck Society creates Nobel Prize winners. Most recently, in 2014, physicist Stefan Hell, one of its scholars, was recognised for a breakthrough in microscope technology, allowing much smaller structures -- less than 200 nanometres -- to be seen. Commercialising this kind of highbrow abstract research, however, has been a different matter. While the alumni of California's Stanford University have filled Silicon Valley with start-ups, Germany's research institutes have not created clusters on the same scale.

Over the coming years, the technology company Amazon – like the other Cyber Valley partners from industry – will contribute € 1.25 million to setting up research groups in the Stuttgart and Tübingen region. The Max Planck Society, the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, the universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen as well as companies such as BMW, Bosch, Daimler, IAV, Porsche and ZF Friedrichshafen have joined forces in the collaboration project to drive forward research on intelligent systems and to create an environment for more successful start-ups. The first research groups planned as part of the initiative are currently being set up. "With Amazon joining the Cyber Valley, our idea to create a fruitful environment for business activities will gain momentum by expanding AI research in the Stuttgart and Tübingen area," indicated Martin Stratmann. "Only by bringing together world-class research and entrepreneurial spirit can we create the breeding ground for innovations that may prove to be technological breakthroughs in the future." Other Amazon projects also support the goal of turning Cyber Valley into a creative hotspot for scientific progress and economically successful innovation.

TechCrunch has learned that Amazon has acquired Body Labs, a company with a stated aim of creating true-to-life 3D body models to support various b2b software applications -- such as virtually trying on clothes or photorealistic avatars for gaming. One source suggested the price-tag Amazon paid for Body Labs could be $100M . However a second well-placed source suggested it's closer to $70M than $100M -- so we're pegging it at between $50M and $70M. An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on the acquisition. New York based Body Labs was founded in March 2013, according to CrunchBase, and had raised more than $10M across two investment rounds -- closing an $8M Series A in November 2015.

Amazon's newest acquisition is a New York-based company called Body Labs, according to a report by TechCrunch this afternoon, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the deal. Body Labs says its SOMA technology "uses artificial intelligence, trained using body data and computer vision, to enable businesses and developers to accurately understand both 3D human motion and shape from any input." Applications include the ability to try on clothes virtually or create gaming avatars that follow the human body, as shown in the Body Labs video above. The potential fashion applications, in particular, could make sense for Amazon as it continues to expand its ambitions in clothing and shoes. The companies haven't yet commented on the report.

Manhattan-based Body Labs was founded in 2013, and in early 2015 introduced the beta version of BodyKit, a set of APIs for virtualizing and simulating the human body. Body Labs is the provider of advanced technology used to analyze body motion and shape – it collects, digitizes, and organizes all of the data and information related to the pose, motion, and shape of human bodies. The company added new health and fitness apps a few months after the BodyKit beta was launched, and less than a year later secured exclusive licenses and patents for its 3D body modeling and virtual reality technologies. In the fall of 2016, the online retailer API Body Labs Blue was introduced, and now Body Labs is back with something new. The company's mission is to transform the human body into a digital platform, and design, produce, and sell goods and services based around that platform.

However achingly slow, the bright technological future painted by science fiction is beginning to emerge. Autonomous cars have begun to hit the roads, and friendly artificial intelligence (AI) could represent humanity's first contact with alien life. Not too long from now, we may be able to have our clothes or even prosthetics customfitted through the use of 3D scanning and printing. One company working to make this last premise a reality is Manhattan-based Body Labs, one of the few firms developing the technology for digitally and accurately representing the human form. Whether it be for designing personally-tailored clothing or realistic virtual reality avatars, Body Labs uses AI and machine learning to "collect, digitize and organize all of the data and information related to human body shape, pose and motion."