A tool for ergonomic assessment of industrial workplaces: the Ergonom.io case
Résumé
The design of industrial workspaces is crucial in the present industrial context to maintain worker satisfaction, productivity, and safety. However, ergonomics and user behavior are frequently overlooked in traditional design processes. In this study, we propose a software tool for designing or improving industrial workstations with the user in mind thus reducing physical, effort and discomfort. Motion capture is employed to record operator movements, which may then be replayed on a virtual model of the workstation, allowing ergonomic modifications to be simulated. The proposed technology simplifies the building of a virtual scene by offering a library of typical industrial components, and incorporates morphological adaptation in the production of virtual avatars to make ergonomic assessments more realistic. The tool was tested in two industrial case studies: the first concerns a door assembly station for electrical enclosures where an ergonomic analysis is performed, and the second concerns a logistics operation station were the analysis, and the proposed solutions are simulated and assessed using the tool. The two studies show that performing an ergonomic analysis with real user gestures in a virtual model can facilitate the identification of solutions to enhance the final ergonomics of industrial workstations.