Reliability And Validity Of Virtual Build Methodology For Ergonomics Analyses

This study was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the Virtual Build methodology for ergonomics design and analysis. Thirty-six human subjects participated in this study and performed a set of six tasks. The tasks were performed twice in both real and virtual environment. The subject?s motion in performing tasks was analyzed by ergonomics assessments by using Virtual Build methodology. Criteria-related validity was evaluated by comparing the Virtual Build ergonomic assessment results with manual calculation. Test-retest reliability was evaluated by correlating ergonomics assessment results between two trials. The result shows that the Virtual Build methodology is reliable for ergonomic assessments. 48 out of 51 reliability index scores are higher than 0.8. The Virtual Build with virtual environment has lower over-time reliability performance than the real environment. The t-test shows that the Virtual Build is valid for 1991 NIOSH lifting equation assessment when using real environment. Some improvements in enhancing human perception need to be done to make Virtual Build valid when using virtual environment

Ergonomic Models of Anthropometry, Human Biomechanics and Operator-Equipment Interfaces

The Committee on Human Factors was established in October 1980 by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council. The committee is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation. The workshop discussed the following: anthropometric models; biomechanical models; human-machine interface models; and research recommendations. A 17-page bibliography is included

Digitalization of the product development process at Scania engine assembly

The technology is constantly developing and companies are striving to work towards a more digital approach. Scania CV AB is a world leading Company manufacturing buses and trucks for heavy transport applications. To maintain their competitive position at the market the company has the ambition for the Product development process to become more digitalized. A goal is to implement a more simulation based and drawing free working method. This project has been carried out at the engine assembly department. The purpose with the thesis was to identify how parts of the product development process could be more digitalized. This included identifying the gap that will occur between the current working process and a more digital approach. Furthermore, it involved finding solutions for the gap and to present possible impacts of a digital working approach. The initial phase of the thesis was to find a suitable methodology for this type of study. The project proceeded with conducting a literature study to gain deeper insight of the subjects covered. A good foundation was obtained and the empirical study could commence. The data collection in the empirical study was gathered mainly within Scania through interviews, observations and archive analyses. Based on this information an analysis and result was carried out and presented. A gap was identified describing deficient areas in the current digital environment. The working method Model Based Definition (MBD) and a software called Industrial Path Solutions (IPS) are presented as solutions for the gap. Suggestions of how the working process should be modified have been set as prerequisites. Impacts including cost savings, quality improvements, shorter lead times and ergonomic benefits have been submitted.Tekniken utvecklas ständigt och företag strävar därför att arbeta mot ett mer digitalt arbetssätt. Scania CV AB är ett världsledande företag som tillverkar bussar och lastbilar för tunga transporter. För att behålla sin konkurrenskraftiga position på marknaden har företaget ambitionen att göra produktutvecklingsprocessen mer digitaliserad. Ett mål är att utveckla en mer simuleringsbaserad och ritningslös arbetsmetod. Detta projekt har genomförts på produktionsavdelningen där montering av motorer sker. Syftet med uppsatsen var att identifiera hur delar av den nuvarande produktutvecklingsprocessen skulle kunna bli mer digitaliserad. Detta innebar att identifiera det gap som kommer att uppstå mellan den nuvarande arbetsprocessen och ett mer digitaliserat tillvägagångssätt. Lösningar på gapet och effekterna av ett mer digitalt arbete skulle också presenteras. Den inledande delen av arbetet innefattade att hitta en lämplig metod för denna typ av studie. Projektet fortskred med en litteraturstudie för att få djupare inblick i de ämnen som projektet kommer att grundas i. Med en bra grundförståelse kunde en empirisk studie påbörjas. Datainsamlingen till den empiriska studien samlades huvudsakligen in på Scania genom intervjuer, observationer och arkivanalyser. Baserat på denna information genomfördes och presenterades en analys och ett resultat. Ett gap som beskriver de bristfälliga områden i den nuvarande digitala miljön identifierades. Arbetsmetoden Model Based Definition (MBD) och mjukvaran Industrial Path Solutions (IPS) presenterades som lösningar på gapet. Även förslag på hur arbetsprocessen kan ändras för att möjliggöra för ett mer digitalt tillvägagångssätt har redogjorts. Följderna av detta som inkluderar kostnadsbesparingar, kvalitetsförbättringar, kortare ledtider och ergonomifördelar har också sammanställts

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: a Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (Supplement 328)

This bibliography lists 104 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during September, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Assessing the accuracy of peak and cumulative low back analyses when human anthropometry is scaled in a virtual environment.

This study addressed the effect of scaling subjects in a virtual reality environment when performing ergonomic evaluations for assembly automotive tasks. Ten male and ten female automotive employees participated in this study. Subjects were selected to fit into one of 4 anthropometric groups (n=5/group); 5th percentile female (5F), 50th percentile female (50F), 50th percentile male (50M), or 95th percentile male (95M). Each subject was asked to perform 3 automotive assembly tasks while interacting with a digital rendering of a vehicle in virtual reality. The subjects were represented in virtual reality as a human manikin (Classic Jack, UGS) whose actions were driven by their actual motions captured via motion tracking (EvaRT, MotionAnalysis). Each subject performed the tasks under 4 different conditions; in one condition, the subject appeared as their true size, and in the three other conditions, they were scaled to appear as the size of the other three subject groups. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1426. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

Prevalence of haptic feedback in robot-mediated surgery : a systematic review of literature

© 2017 Springer-Verlag. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Robotic Surgery. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-017-0763-4With the successful uptake and inclusion of robotic systems in minimally invasive surgery and with the increasing application of robotic surgery (RS) in numerous surgical specialities worldwide, there is now a need to develop and enhance the technology further. One such improvement is the implementation and amalgamation of haptic feedback technology into RS which will permit the operating surgeon on the console to receive haptic information on the type of tissue being operated on. The main advantage of using this is to allow the operating surgeon to feel and control the amount of force applied to different tissues during surgery thus minimising the risk of tissue damage due to both the direct and indirect effects of excessive tissue force or tension being applied during RS. We performed a two-rater systematic review to identify the latest developments and potential avenues of improving technology in the application and implementation of haptic feedback technology to the operating surgeon on the console during RS. This review provides a summary of technological enhancements in RS, considering different stages of work, from proof of concept to cadaver tissue testing, surgery in animals, and finally real implementation in surgical practice. We identify that at the time of this review, while there is a unanimous agreement regarding need for haptic and tactile feedback, there are no solutions or products available that address this need. There is a scope and need for new developments in haptic augmentation for robot-mediated surgery with the aim of improving patient care and robotic surgical technology further.Peer reviewe

a mixed reality digital set up to support design for serviceability

Abstract Design for serviceability begins with understanding the customer needs related to availability, reliability, accessibility and visibility, and aims at designing optimized systems where maintenance operations are easy and intuitive in order to reduce the time to repair and service costs. However, service actions are difficult to predict in front of a traditional CAD model. In this context, digital manufacturing tools and virtual simulation technologies can be validly used to create mixed digital environments where service tasks can be simulated in advance to support product design and improve maintenance actions. Furthermore, the use of human monitoring sensors can be used to detect the stressful conditions and to optimize the human tasks. The paper proposes a mixed reality (MR) set-up where operators are digitalized and monitored to analyse both physical and cognitive ergonomics. It is useful to predict design criticalities and improve the global system design. An industrial case study has been developed in collaboration with CNH Industrial to demonstrate how the proposed set-up is used for design for serviceability, on the basis of experimental evidence

Methodological Issues in Evaluating Workplace Interventions to Reduce Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders Through Mechanical Exposure Reduction

Researchers of work-related musculoskeletal disorders are increasingly asked about the evidentiary base for mechanical exposure reductions. Mixed messages can arise from the different disciplinary cultures of evidence, and these mixed messages make different sets of findings incommensurate. Interventions also operate at different levels within workplaces and result in different intensities of mechanical exposure reduction. Heterogeneity in reporting intervention processes and in measuring relevant outcomes makes the synthesis of research reports difficult. As a means of synthesizing the current understanding of measures, this paper describes a set of intervention and observation nodes for which relevant workplace indicators prior to, during, and after mechanical exposure reduction can provide useful information. On the basis of this path of impacts from exposure reduction, an approach to the evaluation of multilevel ergonomic interventions is described that can assist fellow researchers in producing evidence relevant to the challenges faced by workplace parties and policy makers

Chapter Supporting Inclusive Design of Mobile Devices with a Context Model

Embedded system