Development of an Adaptable Seating Buck for Ergonomic Vehicle Evaluation in a VR Environment

Abstract: Status quo: For the real and ergonomic validation of vehicle concepts, seating bucks and vehicle mock-ups are used in industry and research. The adaptability of these mock-ups with regard to the vehicle dimensions standardized in SAE J1100 or in the GCIE exchange list has proven to be very complicated in the past, so that seating bucks that can only be adapted to a very limited extent are still generally used in industrial applications today. The validation of the extents represented in the seating bucks usually takes place in an environment that can be experienced to a limited extent.Problem: The time required for the development and manufacturing of the seating buck is to be regarded as critical, since the development activities of the various disciplines continue on a steady basis. Due to the resulting time lag between the time of the definition of the seating buck display scope and the current development status, it cannot always be ensured that current data is tested in the seating buck. In addition, the limited representation of design-critical environmental scenarios (e.g. urban environment) leads to limited evaluation results.Method of Resolution: The objective is to provide a adaptable seating buck for vehicle evaluation, in which all tactilely and haptically perceivable features are represented in a realistic position and orientation and, at the same time, the realistic visual and acoustic perception of the vehicle and its environment is ensured. Since a variety of seating positions of different vehicle types and degrees of automation should be representable, the physical human-vehicle interfaces (e.g. steering wheel, seat and pedals) are interchangeable. The visual and acoustic perception of the vehicle or the environment is performed in a VR environment and is not the subject of this paper.The development of the seating buck for ergonomic vehicle evaluation in VR environment is discussed in detail, highlighting development, design and manufacturing aspects. A grid model is used as a basis, in which the position of the standardized heel point (AHP), that of the standardized hip point (SgRP) and that of the steering wheel center are described relative to each other and with standardized dimensions (cp. SAE J1100). In a next step, ranges could be identified for these dimensions that can be used to represent a wide field of vehicles available on the market. The development of adaptable modules for the pedals, the seat as well as the steering wheel is discussed and it is also explained how the drive for the adjustability of these modules was controlled, implemented and integrated into an overall design. The CAD model was digitally validated using the RAMSIS® digital human model (cp. Human Solutions). Finally, it is explained how exactly the vehicle dimensions can be controlled in the real model.

Keywords: Seating Buck, Vehicle Ergonomics, User, Centered Vehicle Design, Digital Human Modeling, Virtual Reality, Vehicle Interior Evaluation

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003788

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