ISE 311: Ergonomics & Work Measurement



ISE 311: Ergonomics & Work Measurement

Anthropometry Laboratory

(Final Report Due: Friday, February 6, 2009)

Purpose:

Through this lab, you should gain an understanding of how anthropometric data is collected and analyzed. You will also practice using anthropometric measures to evaluate the design of a device.

Equipment:

Large anthropometer, yardstick, or tape measure

(Optional) Pencil, pen, or small ruler

(Optional) Digital camera

Data sheet (attached)

Procedure:

This lab is to be completed in groups of 2-4 people. In part A, your group will gather data on two common anthropometric measures. In part B, you will evaluate the design of a common everyday device from an anthropometric perspective.

Part A – Gathering and analyzing anthropometric data

You will be measuring the elbow-fingertip distance and forward reach of a minimum of 10 adults selected at random. Try to get a mixture of men and women for your measurements and make sure they have not already volunteered for someone else.

1. Record the name of the subject (to insure no duplicate measures) and indicate whether the subject is male or female on the data sheet.

2. To measure the forearm length, have the subject stand with his/her arm bent perpendicular to the body and fingers straight. The little finger should be parallel to the floor.

3. Measure the distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. This is the elbow-fingertip distance. Record this measurement on the data sheet. (Note: when using a yardstick or tape measure it may be easier to measure this distance using a pencil, pen, or small ruler held against the back of the elbow to define the endpoint.)

4. Next, have the subject stand with arm stretched out in front but not overextended (that is, the shoulder should remain straight and square with the body). Again, the little finger should be parallel to the floor.

5. Measure the distance from the shoulder (just behind where the arm meets the shoulder) to the tip of the thumb. This is the forward reach. Record this measurement on the data sheet.

6. Repeat with additional subjects selected at random until you have measured the elbow-fingertip distance and forward reach of a minimum of 10 subjects. Create a table in Excel using the format specified in class (see attached.) Send this spreadsheet to the listserv (ise31100109s@mercer.edu) and bring a printout to class on Monday, February 2.

Part B – Conducting a design evaluation

In this part of the lab assignment you will evaluate a particular device with respect to the task(s) being performed and the physical characteristics of the people performing the task(s).

1. Choose an item from the following list or one of your own. Your selection should be based on the ease with which your group will be able to access, measure, and evaluate the item. Examples of items to investigate include:

• supermarket shelf height

• handles on a shopping cart, height, diameter, width

• depth, width, length of the shopping cart

• toilet height, location of flusher, toilet paper, etc.

• kitchen sink height, reach to taps, etc.

• diameter and length of the handle on a golf club

• rail height and gaps on a balcony or stairwell

• something of your own choosing

2. Take a photo or create a detailed (to scale) sketch of someone using the item (e.g. one of your group).

3. Determine what body measures are important when people use/interact with this item (e.g. forward reach, sitting eye height, stature, etc). Note: you do not necessarily have to take into account all tasks that might be required – e.g., you can discuss reaching items on a shelf but not cleaning the shelf or stocking. Just be clear which tasks you are supporting and define relevant body dimensions accordingly.

4. Measure these dimensions on the actual item.

5. Use one of the anthropometric data sources available to you to find the relevant body dimensions for the population of interest (e.g. 5% percentile, 95% percentile, female, male, children – depending on what is appropriate). Note that you may use the table handed out in class, resources in the HF/SQC Lab, or online data sources, but be sure to reference your source.

6. Evaluate your item with respect to the relevant body dimensions. How does it compare?

Results:

1. Calculate the mean and standard deviation of your individual data set. Using the percentile function in Excel, calculate the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of the data, as follows: Select percentile from the function menu. Select the array of data. Enter in the percentile value (i.e., 0.05, 0.1, etc.) Repeat for all required percentile values.

2. Compile the data sent to you by your classmates as an aggregate (all data together) and separated by gender. Create histograms of this data (one each for male, female, and aggregate, i.e. male and female together data). Do the data appear to be normally distributed (either by group or in the aggregate)?

3. Using the combined data set, develop a table indicating 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles by gender and in the aggregate. Include the percentile results from your data set (aggregate) for comparison.

4. Compare your results to standard anthropometric data (again, you may use the table in your textbook, resources in the HF/SQC Lab, or online data sources, but be sure to reference your source.)

5. (Extra credit.) Perform a goodness-of-fit test to determine if the compiled data set (from the entire class) is normally distributed.

6. Describe the item you are evaluating, as well as the specific tasks you expect a person to be able to perform (e.g., reaching items on the supermarket shelves, retrieving items from the shopping cart at checkout, etc.) and why the body dimensions you investigated are relevant.

7. Compile the relevant body dimensions and measured item dimensions from the item you chose to evaluate in a table. Comment on these dimensions (do the item dimensions present a potential problem for the user, did you note any difficulties in use that can be explained by the differences between the user dimensions and the item dimensions, etc.?)

Conclusions:

1. Briefly summarize the results and state whether you feel they provide a reasonable representation of elbow-fingertip distance and forward reach for a given population. Describe the ‘population’ for which these results are applicable or intended?

2. Discuss any insights you have gained from the data on your individual data and, if applicable, the data from others in the class.

3. Discuss the real usefulness of this data from an engineering design viewpoint. How might an engineer or designer use the information? What would be required in order for this to be really useful?

4. Identify specific concerns you noted with respect to the device you evaluated (e.g., depth of the shopping cart) and make recommendations (e.g., “cart should be no more than xx inches deep in order for the 5th percentile female to be able to reach all items in the cart.”)

Note: because this is the first lab assignment in ISE 311, I have provided a lab report template on the course website. Please refer to this template when completing this and all future lab assignments.

ISE 311: Ergonomics & Work Measurement

Anthropometry Laboratory

Data Collection Sheet

|Name: |M / F |Elbow-fingertip length |Forward Reach |

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Excel Spreadsheet Format:

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