ErgoCapture – A Motion Capture Based Ergonomics Risk Assessment Tool

Abstract

In the reduction of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders risk assessment tools have a central role. Although plenty of ergonomic risk assessment tool is availably their application is limited due to the inhomogeneity of the work, the difficulty of the selection of the proper assessment tool, the difficulty of the measurement of forces, joint angles and movement speed and the difficulty in the determination of risk modifying factors like vibration and heat.According to the EN 1005 standard the Composite Ergonomics Risk Assessment includes posture, force extension, manual handling and repetitive movements analysis, and in addition a subjective fatigue assessment. Since the Composite Ergonomics Risk Assessment (CERA) is based on the direct wMSD risk factors, the pages reflect to the posture and movement of the user and the evaluation of the working environment. The ErgoCapture system not only makes the risk assessment more precise and easy, but also opens possibilities to eliminate some general limitations of the ergonomic risk assessment methodology. In this paper some findings of a research and development process of a 3D camera based ergonomic risk assessment tool is presented. The report includes the data acquisition environment, the data analysis framework, and the perspectives of the underlying risk monitor approach. A motion capture technology based human posture analysis is presented, where nearest-neighbor analysis was used for data processing.

Keywords: composite ergonomics risk assessment, motion capture, human modeling, occupational safety and health

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100084