Conclusion

The digital mannequin is first and foremost an ergonomic design aid for a product or a workstation. What kind of design problems can the MN tool effectively help with now or in the very near future? Unquestionably, the geometric specification of a product and the spatial layout of a workstation (overall dimensions, reach, accessibility, etc.) remain the main areas of application.

Increasingly, detailed anthropometric data are becoming available, enabling a better representation of the anthropometric variability of the population to be simulated.

Hybrid methods of motion simulation combining knowledge and captured movements are operational and should enable realistic simulation of complex motion without the need to capture a large number of movements. Recent developments in low-cost markerless motion capture technology such as Kinect™...