Building Ergonomics and Posture Prediction into the Design Process (cont.)
Human modeling enables companies to perform ergonomic studies early in the design process while costs are low. By including this functionality as an integral part of the design process, it allows designers to bring the human mannequin into the assembly process and allows the designer consider the design in true context of its intended use. Obviously, this improves design quality as it allows engineers to digitally simulate human interaction with the end product - extending the validation process way beyond fit, form and function and into the science of ergonomics and posture prediction.
Traditional approaches to human modeling see the use of external specialist applications requiring data translation and introducing delays into the process, restricting the ability to make interactive changes. This reduces the role of ergonomic study to a post design activity and prevents a seamless product development workflow.
By embedding human modeling tools into NX 3, product quality is improved; designers can validate product designs for ergonomic considerations including packaging studies such as posture, accessibility, assembly and disassembly; and, visibility can be completed as part of the product design activity. Reduction in product development time, due to early identification of ergonomic issues, incorporating human models into the digital product development process, can significantly reduce the dependency on physical prototypes in the product development process.
UGS recently announced its NX Human Modeling capabilities. You can read the announcement here.
