Abstract
The late detection of ergonomic component assembly issues during manufacturing processes has an influence on operator well-being and productivity, as well as having a high cost of correction. Although virtual reality may enhance digital human modeling, there is a knowledge gap on the combination of these technologies to assess ergonomics. This study aims to analyze the application of virtual reality and digital human modeling for physical ergonomics assessment during product development in the industry, through a review of patents and the literature. We searched the Derwent Innovation Index, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and found 250 patents and 18 articles. We observed an exponential increase in patents, concentrated among major technological players, and a wide range of technologies being invented. A significant number of studies focuses on the automotive and aviation industries. Despite a relative consensus in the literature on the benefits of integrating virtual reality and digital human modeling to assess physical ergonomics in the early stages of product development, the technologies are seldom combined in the same analysis; moreover, most cases continue to focus on analyzing pre-designed production processes, when resources are completely deployed. These outcomes may provide a reference for practitioners and researchers to develop novel solutions for the early detection of physical ergonomics issues in the industry.
Highlights
Accepted: 18 January 2022The product development process is composed of several phases, one of which is defining the manufacturing strategy
The research questions Q1, Q2, and Q3 were addressed in order to uncover obstacles, opportunities, that may be useful in stimulating the use virtual reality opportunities,and andbreakthroughs breakthroughs that may be useful in stimulating theofuse of virtual and digital modeling to undertake ergonomic assessment in industrial product reality and human digital human modeling to undertake ergonomic assessment in industrial design; findings are detailed the sections follow
Engines can provide helpful application programming interfaces for rendering, of these potential gains, we identified just a few cases of virtual reality and digital human interaction, and physics, the construction high-quality and high-fidelity modeling being used for facilitating physical ergonomics analysisofduring early product development
Summary
The product development process is composed of several phases, one of which is defining the manufacturing strategy. The late discovery of ergonomic components assembly issues, after the release phase, will have a substantial influence on the cost of the solution in this process. This is because typical production tools are almost finished at this stage of development and modifying them is complex and costly. Everything in the prior phases of development is generally performed in a virtual model [3]. In terms of ergonomics, finding flaws in the virtual manufacturing model early on decreases the time and cost of finding solutions, while protecting workers from being exposed to undue risk of harm and improving workplace well-being [1,4,5,6,7]
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