Submit to Applied Sciences Review for Applied Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 31590

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Heecheon You

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Republic of Korea
Interests: ergonomics; innovative product development; digital human scan analysis; smart healthcare; VR/AR/MR; multimodal AI
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Proper interactions between humans and systems, including tasks, products, tools, workplaces, and environments, are crucial for better safety, usability, and productivity. In the fourth industrial revolution, new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of Things, big data, digitalization, and wireless technologies have challenged ergonomists and human factors professionals to explore innovative design solutions and methodologies of human-system interactions for the synergistic fusion of the digital, biological, and/or physical worlds.

This Special Issue “Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design” aims to provide a platform for sharing novel methodologies and applications that can be effectively utilized for the development of ergonomic designs of human-system interactions. The areas of ergonomic approaches and applications of the Special Issue include, but not limited to, cognition, anthropometry, biomechanics, safety, macro-ergonomics, human-system integration, user-centered design, universal design, experience design, sustainable design, affective computing, autonomous systems, VR/AR/MR, aging, healthcare, neuro-ergonomics, musculoskeletal disorders, human-robot interaction, and exoskeletons.

Prof. Dr. Heecheon You
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cognition
anthropometry
biomechanics
safety, macro-ergonomics
human-system integration
user-centered design
universal design
experience design
sustainable design
affective computing
autonomous systems
VR/AR/MR
aging
healthcare
neuro-ergonomics
musculoskeletal disorders
human-robot interaction
exoskeleton

Published Papers (13 papers)

Download All Papers

Editorial

Jump to: Research

5 pages, 181 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Special Issue “Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design”

by Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(20), 9754; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11209754 - 19 Oct 2021

Viewed by 1054

Abstract

Interactions between humans and systems need to be designed appropriately for safety, usability, productivity, health, and/or wellness [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

16 pages, 6638 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Variation in 3D Face Shapes of Dutch Children for Mask Design

by Lyè Goto, Wonsup Lee, Toon Huysmans, Johan F. M. Molenbroek and Richard H. M. Goossens

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 6843; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11156843 - 25 Jul 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2879

Abstract

The use of 3D anthropometric data of children’s heads and faces has great potential in the development of protective gear and medical products that need to provide a close fit in order to function well. Given the lack of detailed data of this kind, the aim of this study is to map the size and shape variation of Dutch children’s heads and faces and investigate possible implications for the design of a ventilation mask. In this study, a dataset of heads and faces of 303 Dutch children aged six months to seven years consisting of traditional measurements and 3D scans were analysed. A principal component analysis (PCA) of facial measurements was performed to map the variation of the children’s face shapes. The first principal component describes the overall size, whilst the second principal component captures the more width related variation of the face. After establishing a homology between the 3D scanned face shapes, a second principal component analysis was done on the point coordinates, revealing the most prominent variations in 3D shape within the sample. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 2145 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Linkage Representation of the Human Hand Skeletal System Using CT Hand Scan Images

by Ying Cao, Xiaopeng Yang, Zhichan Lim, Hayoung Jung, Dougho Park and Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(13), 5857; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11135857 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2797

Abstract

The present study proposed a method for establishing a linkage representation of the human hand skeletal system. Hand skeletons of 15 male subjects were reconstructed from computed tomography (CT) scans in 10 different postures selected from a natural hand-closing motion. The wrist joint center was estimated as the intersection of the centerline of the metacarpal of the middle finger and the distal wrist crease. The remaining joint centers were kinematically estimated based on the relative motion between the distal bone segment and the proximal bone segment of a given joint. A hand linkage representation was then formed by connecting the derived joint centers. Regression models for predicting internal hand link lengths using hand length as the independent variable were established. In addition, regression models for predicting the joint center coordinates of the thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) and finger metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints using hand length or hand breadth were established. Our models showed higher R² values and lower maximum standard errors than the existing models. The findings of the present study can be applied to hand models for ergonomic design and biomechanical modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 5897 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Virtual Fit Analysis Method for an Ergonomic Design of Pilot Oxygen Mask

by Wonsup Lee, Daehan Jung, Seikwon Park, Heeeun Kim and Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 5332; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11125332 - 08 Jun 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4552

Abstract

In the ergonomic design of wearable products such as an oxygen mask, systematic design methods including the analysis of anthropometric information, evaluation of fit, and product design need to utilize 3D human scan data. The present study intends to develop a virtual fit analysis method that generates an ergonomic shape of an oxygen mask for fighter pilots based on 3D facial scans. The proposed virtual fit analysis method enables iteratively to revise the shape of an oxygen mask until an appropriate level of fit between the mask and a group of pilot faces is achieved. The proposed method of virtual fit analysis and design optimization was applied to find ergonomic shapes of oxygen masks for four size categories (small narrow, medium narrow, medium wide, and large wide) to accommodate 336 pilots of the Republic of Korea Air Force. The virtual fit analysis results in the study showed that the revised oxygen mask shapes achieved significantly higher accommodation percentages (4.8~88.7%) at facial areas (nasal root, nasal side, cheek, and chin) compared to the existing oxygen mask shapes. The proposed method can be applied to develop an ergonomic product design that fits the face and other human body parts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 5756 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Drawing Application for Communication Support during Endoscopic Surgery and Its Evaluation Using Steering Law

by Takafumi Asao, Takeru Kobayashi, Kentaro Kotani, Satoshi Suzuki, Kazutaka Obama, Atsuhiko Sumii and Tatsuto Nishigori

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4505; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11104505 - 14 May 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1377

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to construct a hands-free endoscopic surgical communication support system that can draw lines in space corresponding to head movements using AR technology and evaluate the applicability of the drawing motion by the head movement to the steering law, one of the HCI models, for the potential use during endoscopic surgery. In the experiment, the participants manipulated the cursor by using head movements through the pathway and movement time (MT); the number of errors and subjective evaluation of the difficulty of the task was obtained. The results showed that the head-movement-based line drawing manipulation was significantly affected by the tracking direction and by the task difficulty, shown as the Index of Difficulty (ID). There was high linearity between ID and MT, with a coefficient of determination R² of 0.9991. The Index of Performance was higher in the horizontal and vertical directions compared to diagonal directions. Although the weight and biocompatibility of the AR glasses must be overcome to make the current prototype a viable tool for supporting communication in the operating room environment, the prototype has the potential to promote the development of a computer-supported collaborative work environment for endoscopic surgery purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1115 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Test-Retest Reliability of Sole Morphology Measurements Using a Novel Single-Image-Based Pin-Array Impression Reconstruction Method

by Tsan-Yang Chen, Chien-Chung Kuo, Li-Wei Hung, Wei-Chun Lee, Jie-Hsing Lo, Hsuan-Lun Lu and Tung-Wu Lu

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(10), 4447; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11104447 - 13 May 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2006

Abstract

Background: Assessment of the sole morphology provides a clinically useful measure of the foot condition, but existing methods are mostly limited to two-dimensional or non-weight-bearing conditions. The current study aimed to assess the reliability of a novel method called Single-Image-Based Pin-Array Impression Reconstruction Method (SIBPAIR) implemented on a commercial foot assessment system, and the intra-rater, inter-rater and inter-session reliability of the SIBPAIR-based protocol for three-dimensional sole morphological measurements. Methods: The reliability of the SIBPAIR method, and the intra-rater, inter-rater, and inter-session reliability of the SIBPAIR-based protocol in measuring morphological parameters of the sole were assessed by repeated measurements of fifteen young healthy adults by two male physical therapists, in terms of intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM). Results and Conclusions: The SIBPAIR method was found to have very high reliability with very small SEM values, and the SIBPAIR-based protocol also showed very high intra-rater, inter-rater, and inter-session reliability with small SEM. These results indicate that accurate and reliable measurements could be obtained by following the protocol regardless of the rater’s experience or time of measurement. This will be useful for foot assessment and subsequent applications, such as design and manufacture of customized orthoses or shoes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 3792 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Boundary Zone Method for the Generation of Multivariate Representative Humanoids

by Kihyo Jung, Younggeun Choi, Baekhee Lee, Heecheon You and Ochae Kwon

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(8), 3440; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11083440 - 12 Apr 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1301

Abstract

The present study developed a novel multivariate representative humanoid (RH) generation method called the boundary zone method (BZM), which consists of (1) the formation of a boundary zone (BZ) for a designated accommodation percentage (κ), (2) the clustering of anthropometric cases in the BZ, and (3) the selection of representative cases from the clusters. By using 1988 U.S. Army anthropometric data for κ = 90% and 10 anthropometric dimensions, the BZM was compared to existing methods, including the square method (SM), the rectangular method (RM), and the circular method (CM) in terms of multivariate accommodation percentage (MAP), outlier percentage, and normalized outlier magnitude. The MAP analysis showed that only the BZM could form a group of RHs that precisely satisfied the designated κ, whereas the RM formed over-accommodating RH groups and both the SM and CM formed under-accommodating RH groups. The outlier analysis identified that only the BZM generated relevant RHs within the body size ranges of the target population. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 1197 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Assessment Method of Force Tracking Capabilities for Detection of Motor Intentional Disorders

by Kihyo Jung, Byung Hwa Lee, Sang Won Seo, Doo Sang Yoon, Baekhee Lee, Duk L. Na and Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 3244; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app11073244 - 05 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1525

Abstract

Early detection of motor intentional disorders associated with dysfunction in the action–intention system of the brain is clinically important to provide timely intervention. This study developed a force tracking system that can record forces exerted by the index finger while tracking 5 N, 10 N, 15 N, and 20 N of target forces varying over time. The force tracking system quantified force control measures (initiation time IT; development time, DT, maintenance error, ME; termination time, TT; tracking error, TE) for the individual and overall force control phases. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the force tracking system for a normal control group (n = 12) and two patient groups diagnosed with subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI, n = 11) and subcortical vascular dementia (SVaD, n = 13). Patients with SVaD showed significantly worse force control capabilities in IT (0.84 s) and ME (1.71 N) than those with svMCI (0.64 s in IT, and 1.38 N in ME). Patients with svMCI had significantly worse capabilities in IT, ME, and TE (3.80 N) than the control group (0.49 s in IT, 0.78 N in ME, and 3.07 N in TE). The prevalence rates of force control capabilities lower than the 99% confidence interval of the control group ranged from 17% to 62% for the two patient groups. The force tracking system can sensitively quantify the severity of the force control deficiencies caused by dysfunction in the action–intention system of the brain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 406 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of an Agent’s Voice in Psychological Counseling: Session Evaluation and Counselor Rating

by Hyo Chang Kim, Min Chul Cha and Yong Gu Ji

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 2893; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11072893 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2737

Abstract

As an agent delivers content during the communication between an artificial intelligence (AI) machine and a person, the voice of the agent is a crucial factor to be considered. Particularly in the fields of eHealth, the perception of users toward an agent is crucial as it significantly affects the communication between the agent and its patients, as well as the treatment results. Thus, this study examined the effects of the voice of an agent on the perception of users toward the agent and its counseling effects. This study developed a psychological counseling agent with four voices according to gender and age, communicated with the subjects through such agent, and measured the perception of users toward the agent and its counseling effects through a questionnaire. Results demonstrated that the female-voiced agent had a higher level of attractiveness than the male-voiced agent, regardless of the age of such voice, and the agent using an older voice had a higher level of expertness and depth than the agent using a younger voice, regardless of the gender of such voice. The findings of this study are expected to be effectively used to design a voice-based AI agent that considers the optimal voice according to the purpose of use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 7803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Finite Finger Joint Centers of Rotation Using 3D Hand Skeleton Motions Reconstructed from CT Scans

by Xiaopeng Yang, Zhichan Lim, Hayoung Jung, Younggi Hong, Mengfei Zhang, Dougho Park and Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(24), 9129; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10249129 - 21 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2545

Abstract

The present study proposed a method to estimate the finite finger joint centers of rotation (CoRs) with high accuracy using 3D hand skeleton motions reconstructed from CT scans. Ten hand postures starting from a fully extended posture and ending at a fist posture with about 10° difference in flexion between the adjacent postures were captured by a CT scanner for 15 male participants, and their 3D hand skeletons were reconstructed using the CT scans. Each bone segment from the full extension posture was registered to the corresponding bone segments of the remaining hand postures. The proximal bone segments of a joint from two postures were aligned to estimate the finite CoR of the joint between the two postures. Centerlines of the distal bone segments of the joint were then identified using the principal component analysis method, and the finite CoR of the joint was determined as the intersection point of the identified centerlines. The proposed method reduced the variation of estimated finite joint CoRs by 16.0% to 67.0% among the finger joints compared to the existing methods. The variation of estimated finite joint CoRs decreased as the rotation angle of the joint increased. The proposed method can be used for the simulation of finger movement with high accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2070 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identifying the Risk Factors in the Context-of-Use of Electric Kick Scooters Based on a Latent Dirichlet Allocation

by Kyung-Jun Lee, Chan Hyeok Yun, Ilsun Rhiu and Myung Hwan Yun

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(23), 8447; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10238447 - 26 Nov 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2199

Abstract

Accidents related to electric kick scooters, which are widespread globally, are increasing rapidly. However, most of the research on them concentrates on reporting accident status and injury patterns. Therefore, while it is necessary to analyze safety issues from the user’s perspective, interviewing or conducting a survey with those involved in an accident may not return enough data due to respondents’ memory loss. Therefore, this study aims to identify the risk factors in the context-of-use for electric kick scooters based on a topic modeling method. We collected data on risk episodes involving electric kick scooters experienced by users in their daily lives and applied text mining to analyze text responses describing the risk episodes systematically. A total of 423 risk episodes are collected from 21 electric kick scooter users in South Korea over two months from an online survey. The text responses describing risk episodes were classified into nine topics based on a latent Dirichlet allocation. From the result, four risk factors can be identified by analyzing the derived topics and the cause of the risk according to the context. Moreover, we suggested design improvement directions. This study can be helpful for designing safer electric kick scooters considering safety. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 15743 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Smartphone Size and Hand Size on Grip Posture in One-Handed Hard Key Operations

by Younggeun Choi, Xiaopeng Yang, Jangwoon Park, Wonsup Lee and Heecheon You

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(23), 8374; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10238374 - 25 Nov 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2697

Abstract

Greater understanding of the grip postures preferred by users is needed for the ergonomic design of smartphone user interfaces. The present study identifies user-preferred grip postures by smartphone size and hand size in one-handed hard key operations. Grip postures of 45 participants were photographed while major smartphone tasks were simulated in standing with smartphone mockups of nine screen sizes (3.0″–7.0″). The grip postures were encoded by the locations (left side: L, right side: R, top: T, bottom: B, front: F, back: K) of a smartphone and the number of fingers at each contact location. Three grip postures (L3-R1-K1: 70.0%, L4-R1: 13.3%, L3-R1-T1: 12.0%) were found dominant and the distribution of grip posture changed by smartphone size and hand size—the larger the smartphone size or hand size, the higher the frequency of L3-R1-K1. The grip posture frequency distribution by smartphone size would be of use to determine the optimal locations of hard keys on a smartphone of a particular size. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

26 pages, 17277 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fusing Hand Postures and Speech Recognition for Tasks Performed by an Integrated Leg–Arm Hexapod Robot

by Jing Qi, Xilun Ding, Weiwei Li, Zhonghua Han and Kun Xu

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(19), 6995; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app10196995 - 07 Oct 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2442

Abstract

Hand postures and speech are convenient means of communication for humans and can be used in human–robot interaction. Based on structural and functional characteristics of our integrated leg-arm hexapod robot, to perform reconnaissance and rescue tasks in public security application, a method of linkage of movement and manipulation of robots is proposed based on the visual and auditory channels, and a system based on hand postures and speech recognition is described. The developed system contains: a speech module, hand posture module, fusion module, mechanical structure module, control module, path planning module and a 3D SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) module. In this system, three modes, i.e., the hand posture mode, speech mode, and a combination of the hand posture and speech modes, are used in different situations. The hand posture mode is used for reconnaissance tasks, and the speech mode is used to query the path and control the movement and manipulation of the robot. The combination of the two modes can be used to avoid ambiguity during interaction. A semantic understanding-based task slot structure is developed by using the visual and auditory channels. In addition, a method of task planning based on answer-set programming is developed, and a system of network-based data interaction is designed to control movements of the robot using Chinese instructions remotely based on a wide area network. Experiments were carried out to verify the performance of the proposed system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Approaches and Applications in Ergonomic Design)

► Show Figures