And thanks to this collaboration, the labs are now able to support additional industry projects on short notice and with quick turn-around times, Schultheis emphasizes.
'“The two labs are equipped with state-of-the-art software and hardware to fulfill the industry needs for anthropometric and ergonomic solutions,” he said. “Ergonomics, as a scientific discipline, deals with designing according to human needs in order to optimize human performance and well-being. Anthropometry refers to the measurement of humans and plays an important role in industrial design and ergonomics to optimize products.”
The latest joint projects by the VRC and Human Factors supported the planning and evaluation of the anthropometric and ergonomic design for two very different systems: the Advanced Cockpit Ground Control Station (GCS) for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., and a revolutionary new human-computer interface (HCI) for medical image presentation and interpretation.
Toledo said that in these and other joint projects, the VRC is able to reduce costs during conception, engineering and manufacturing by replacing physical models and mockups with virtual tools that allow for real-time analysis of anthropometrical and ergonomic factors.
Virtual reality is a product lifecycle management (PLM) interactive and collaborative tool that uses real-time visual simulation and immersive systems to establish a direct connection between the user and the digital world.
“Its primary goal is to shorten design cycles by reducing or eliminating physical mockups,” Toledo said. “For example, in cockpit and cabin design, VR provides a real-scale, first-person perspective for pilots and passengers by performing ergonomic evaluations of accessibility, visibility and body interaction.”
The VRC features an active stereoscopic 15’x7’ rear-projection flat screen, seating for 25, a head-mounted display, high-tech motion tracking and motion capture systems and special manipulation gloves. The lab utilizes customized commercial software used in the aviation industry to address real-time visualization and simulation of data originated in computer-aided design, engineering or manufacturing (CAD/CAE/CAM).
Equipment in the Human Factors Lab includes ATC-810 twin-engine CPT/IFR flight simulator, a TRACOR AR9S audiometric booth, a DriveSim driving simulator, a Tobii ET-17 eyetracker, OASIS software for analyzing handwriting and other fine motor control, custom software developed in-house for studying computer input device control, a virtual research V8 head-mounted display and a two-sensor flock-of-birds motion tracker.
For more information on the VRC, visit www.niar.wichita.edu/researchlabs/vr_overview.asp or contact Fernando Toledo at (316) 978-8333. For more information on the Human Factors Lab, visit www.niar.wichita.edu/researchlabs/hf_overview.asp or contact Udo Schultheis at (316) 978-5776.
