Research Proposal
‘Digital ergonomics tools’ is a term used in this research proposal to refer to tools that are used to assess human work in real and virtual environments, where ‘digital’ refers to the use of technology such as computers, sensors, simulation, and data processing, to achieve desired functionality and usability. Digital ergonomics tools are considered as part of the ‘digital factory’. In essence the digital factory is an advanced computer model that either represents a non-yet existing factory, or an existing factory. When the factory is realised, there is an information flow between the real and the digital factory. The digital factory can be used to be informed about status of running production, and to support product and manufacturing development activities to test different design scenarios in the digital model before realising the selected solutions in the real factory. Hence, the digital factory approach assists designers, engineers, ergonomists, and managers to get a better understanding of the current status of the factory, and offers a digital model for testing and deciding upon different design alternatives. In an ergonomics context, such status checks can be related to assessing current ergonomics loads of the work force, or related to ensuring appropriate ergonomics when workstations are introduced or modified due to new product type introductions. However, there is a need to develop and evaluate digital ergonomics tools that has the desired functionality and usability to be integrated in to the digital factory concept. This proposed research addresses those needs.
The research contributes to advance knowledge about technology and methods for the assessment of human work in real and virtual environments. The research will be carried out in association with development and evaluation research projects in the area of digital ergonomics tools, such as digital human modelling (DHM) tools and smart workwear. Simulation and experiment based strategies will be used to gather data and extract new knowledge. The studies will be carried out both in simulation and laboratory environments at the University, as well as in case studies in manual assembly in Swedish automotive companies.
Research proposal, PhD programme, University of Skövde