The Quest to Validate Human Motion for Digital Ergonomic Assessment –Biomechanical Studies to Improve the Human-Like Behavior of the Human Model “EMA”

Abstract

Modern digital human simulation tools try to generate motions over an decreased number of input information to pass the method of step-by-step motion generation as it has been common until now. A key feature of EMA is the self-initiated motion generation, which decreases the effort for users in simulation preparation and increases the validity of simulation results in terms of realistic motion trajectories and biomechanical correctness. EMA has been designed for the simulation of human work activities in industrial production. EMA is already capable of reproducing most of common work-related activities, but there is still a need to improve its performance for some specific tasks. With the advancing number of automatically generated movement, the responsibility of the software to produce valid and reliable movement rises to a new level. Furthermore the necessity of valid motor behavior is based on the requirement of a correct assessment of work time and ergonomics in the simulation. Such assessment functions are already implemented using ‘state-of-the-art’ methods like MTM (Methods Time Measurement) for time analysis and EAWS (Ergonomic Assessment Worksheet) for ergonomics risk evaluation. In order to improve the quality of the ergonomic, time-related and visual simulation results, several studies have recently been carried out. The results of these studies show a large range in variation and complexity leading to the question, how to transfer information gained with scientific studies into explicit implementations for digital human modeling software.

Keywords: Digital Human Modelling, Biomechanics, Motion Capturing, Process simulation

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100408