Computer workspace modelling

Computer aided design (CAD) methods are becoming very popular with engineers as they provide considerably more flexibility than conventional techniques. Although they are now commonplace in manufacturing industries the great majority of CAD systems completely ignore the most important component of the human-machine system being designed-humans themselves. The importance of an ergonomics input to a design is now recognized by many industries as being essential. The increasing complexity of modern systems and the social, economic and legislative pressures for good design have led to the demand for the ergonomics input to be made available as early as possible in the design programme, starting preferably at the concept stage. Traditionally, ergonomists have had to wait until the mock-up stage before being able to perform a detailed evaluation of a prototype design. This delay has several consequences, which will be discussed later in this chapter, all of which are detrimental to the design process

SAMMIE: an ergonomics CAD system for vehicle design and evaluation

SAMMIE (System for Aiding Man-Machine Interaction Evaluation) is a CAD system which enables the ergonomics/human factors evaluation of vehicle designs to commence at the earliest stages of the design process. Evaluations of postural comfort and the occupants' clearances, reach and vision should be undertaken from the concept stage when design modifications are easier and cheaper to implement than at the pre-production stage. In order to achieve this, the package offers 3D modelling of vehicles and their occupants. Details of the package and its application to vehicle design are presented

Computer graphics standards for man modelling

The human being is arguably one of the most nonstandard and unpredictable components of all systems. Thus, in many application areas of computer-aided design, there is a need to model the physical aspects of humans alongside models of workplace and equipment. The paper briefly describes the Sammie systems, a long-established and succesful computer-aided design system that has fulfilled this requirement across a wide range of application areas. Recently, much development work has been aimed at incorporating a range of graphics and data-exchange standards into the Sammie software. These experiences are described, together with observations on their apparent limitations and advantages. In particular, the Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System (Phigs), its extension to Phigs-Plus, the Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM), the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (iges), and X-Windows with the Phigs extension (Pex) are considered

Applications of the SAMMIE CAD system in workplace design

Computer Aided Design (CAD) is now firmly established in some industries as the normal method of originating and evaluating designs. Thus in aerospace it would be normal to have computer representations of proposed aircraft long before mock-ups or prototypes are available for functional evaluation. This implies that many aspects of the design may be finalised before there is any opportunity to carry out ergonomics evaluations of the work space or work tasks which will eventually confront the operator. Other industries are not so advanced in using computers in design, but would benefit from the ability to carry out ergonomics evaluations early in the design process. It is natural therefore to look for CAD systems which have the capability of considering human as well as mechanical, structural or other aspects of design. SAMMIE. System for Aiding Man-Machine Interaction Evaluation, is one such system which has been used in this way for some years. It assists in the building of a computer model of the workplace which can be viewed and manipulated on a graphics screen in ways which will be familiar to users of modern three-dimensional solid modelling systems. In addition. and most importantly, it includes a model of the human operator which is used as an evaluative tool. This paper very briefly describes the characteristics of SAMMIE but concentrates on describing applications of the technique to workplace design. In the main these applications originate from design consultancy carried out in recent years, and include supermarket checkout facilities, visibility studies in underground trains, and a machine shop environment

Computer aided ergonomics design of automobiles

Computer aided ergonomics design of automobile

Computer aided ergonomics and workspace design

Computer aided ergonomics and workspace desig