Assessment of ergonomic issues during product conceptualization stage in augmented reality environments

Virtual Concept Workshop 2014 Innovation on Product design and manufacture Medellin, Colombia. 26 28 March 2014 Paper Number -1Copyright of Virtual Concept Assessment of ergonomic issues during product conceptualization stage in augmented reality environments Santiago Arroyave, Gilberto Osorio-Gómez, Johana Hoyos Design Engineering Research Group (GRID), Universidad EAFIT, Carrera 49 No 7 Sur-50, Medellín, Colombia E-mail: {sarroyav, gosoriog, jhoyosr2}@eafit.edu.co Short Abstract: Commonly, ergonomic analysis of the products' assembly processes starts in the embodiment design phase, when the information of the parts and their interaction are clearly defined. This may imply iterations making improvements associated with ergonomic issues. We asked whether it is possible to infer possible ergonomic issues related to the manual assembly process during product conceptualization. So, we integrated an AR-based modelling tool, in which the user creates and places virtual parts over the context in a top-down design strategy using his/her hands as interface, with an Ergonomic Assessment Module for continuous evaluation of the user postures, movements and forces related to the created parts. In that way, the spectrum of the potential solutions during the conceptualization phase, when the information about the problem is vague enough, can be delimited and the convergence to the near-optimal solution may be more effective.