Ergonomics analysis in a virtual environment

Abstract

Simulation can support the design of an ergonomic workplace by enabling early assessment of ergonomic conditions in a virtual environment. An important feature is the possibility to study alternative solutions or the effect of improvements from an ergonomics perspective. To be able to conduct an efficient and reliable evaluation in a virtual environment, an objective analysis method is essential. Such an analysis method should be integrated in the simulation software, and support a company's everyday ergonomics work process. In order to gain from existing ergonomics knowledge within a company, the possibility to implement such wisdom in the current simulation software becomes important.This paper presents an implementation work done with the purpose of integrating an established ergonomics work process into a virtual environment. It describes the benefits of an ergonomics work process where simulation and evaluation at early stages of a design process are key factors. The paper will also describe the integration process, i.e., the technical issues as well as the change in work methods.Keywords: simulation; ergonomics; workplace design.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bäckstrand, G., Högberg, D., De Vin, L.J., Case, K. and Piamonte, P. (2007) ; and MSc (1995) and PhD (2000) degrees in Industrial Ergonomics from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. He manages different projects in the areas of product and production ergonomics for different Volvo companies and their clients. His group is also involved in several national (Swedish) and EU-sponsored projects in the same areas.

Digital twin and virtual reality: a co-simulation environment for design and assessment of industrial workstations

“…Moreover, Bougaa, Bornhofen, Kadima, and Rivière (2015) show that virtual reality allows involving and engaging all stakeholders in the decision process. As instance, operators' ergonomics can be assessed thanks to virtual environment in order to increase the comfort at work (Bäckstrand, Hogberg, De Vin, Case, & Piamonte, 2007;Högberg et al, 2007). Recent works deal with assessing ergonomics in a real situation thanks to motion capture (Bortolini, Faccio, Gamberi, & Pilati, 2018) or within simulated situation in virtual reality (Rizzuto, Sonne, Vignais, & Keir, 2019).…”

Designing and evaluating a workstation in real and virtual environment: toward virtual reality based ergonomic design sessions

“…Our team operates and maintains a Virtual Reality platform called IMMERSIA 2 . The equipment is a large immersive L-shape setup, which immerses the user in a high-quality visual and audible world.…”

“…Indeed, virtual prototyping -the act of evaluating a product by simulating its behavior and its interactions with humans and/or other componentshas become increasingly relevant, especially for evaluating assembly tasks. At this point, the use of such tools becomes quite natural to evaluate the functionalities or ergonomic features of workstations [2,41] since it is more cost-effective and easier to edit a digital mock-up (DMU) than a real mock-up.…”

Virtual manufacturing for press line monitoring and diagnostics

“…The CAR model of the cell in Figure 2 shows a press with a materials handling robot that feeds the press with sheets from the de-stacker and handles stamped parts and waste material by placing these onto two different conveyors. A technology related to CAR is ergonomic simulation, which is used for instance for posture analysis in workplace design [33]. …”