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An evaluation method using virtual reality to optimize ergonomic design in manual assembly and maintenance scenarios

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Abstract

Industrial maintenance and assembly (IMA) is an important activity for complex products, in which manual operations play an important role. Using virtual reality (VR) to support ergonomic design dates back many years. However, many applications only focus on the immersive simulation of IMA processes and ignore the quantitative evaluation based on the simulation data. In this paper, an integrated VR-based method for the ergonomic optimization of manual operations is proposed. The proposed method effectively integrates multiple VR hardware devices, motion capture data, and the evaluation method in the DELMIA™ environment. The method can capture the real-time motion data of the user. When the user conducts immersive simulation, the motion data is transformed and calculated, which maps and drives the virtual task in DELMIA. The configurable rapid upper limb assessment method is integrated into the system. The working posture can be evaluated and analyzed based on real human data according to actual needs. A practical case demonstrates the effectiveness of the method. Compared with traditional methods, the proposed method can not only enable designers to conduct immersive IMA simulation to improve design cognition, but also comprehensively analyze and evaluate the ergonomic design. For the designers, the time consumed and skill requirements are reduced, and the design efficiency and accuracy are improved.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the MSc students at Beihang University who contributed to this research: Chengzhang Chen, Yuning Liang, and Chao Dai.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems (No. KG02000938).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Ziyue Guo, Dong Zhou, Aimin Hao, Yan Wang, Hongduo Wu & Qidi Zhou

  2. School of Computer Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Ziyue Guo & Aimin Hao

  3. School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Ziyue Guo, Dong Zhou, Yan Wang, Hongduo Wu, Qidi Zhou & Shengkui Zeng

  4. Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dequan Yu

  5. Key Laboratory of Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Dequan Yu

Authors
  1. Ziyue Guo
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  2. Dong Zhou
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  3. Aimin Hao
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  4. Yan Wang
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  5. Hongduo Wu
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  6. Qidi Zhou
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  7. Dequan Yu
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  8. Shengkui Zeng
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Contributions

Ziyue Guo: conceptualization, methodology, and writing—original draft preparation. Dong Zhou: conceptualization, funding acquisition. Aimin Hao: revision—revised draft preparation. Yan Wang: validation. Hongduo Wu: resources. Qidi Zhou: visualization. Dequan Yu: investigation. Shengkui Zeng: supervision.

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Correspondence to Dong Zhou.

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Guo, Z., Zhou, D., Hao, A. et al. An evaluation method using virtual reality to optimize ergonomic design in manual assembly and maintenance scenarios. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 121, 5049–5065 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-09657-4

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