Title: Quantitative body movement and gesture assessment in ergonomics

Authors: Giuseppe Andreoni, Marco Mazzola, Oriana Ciani, Marta Zambetti, Maximiliano Romero, Fiammetta Costa, Ezio Preatoni

Addresses: INDACO Department, Politecnico di Milano, Durando 38/A, 20158, Milan, Italy. ' INDACO Department, Politecnico di Milano, Durando 38/A, 20158, Milan, Italy. ' PenTAG, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Veysey Building, Salmon Pool Lane, Exeter, EX2 4SG, UK; Centre for Research in Healthcare Management (CERGAS), Universita' Bocconi, Via Roentgen 1, 20136, Milan, Italy. ' Fondazione San Raffaele del Monte Tabor, E-services for Life and Health Research Unit (IRIS), Via Olgettina 60, 20132, Milan, Italy. ' INDACO Department, Politecnico di Milano, Durando 38/A, 20158, Milan, Italy. ' INDACO Department, Politecnico di Milano, Durando 38/A, 20158, Milan, Italy. ' INDACO Department, Politecnico di Milano, Durando 38/A, 20158, Milan, Italy; Sport, Health and Exercise Science, Department for Health, University of Bath, Applied Biomechanics Suite, 1.305, Claverton Down, BATH, BA2 7AY, UK

Abstract: We present a technique for the ergonomic assessment of motor tasks and postures. It is based on movement analysis and it integrates the perceived discomfort scores for joints motion and the time involvement of the different body districts. It was tested on eight subjects performing reaching movements. The experimental protocol was designed to have an a priori expected comfort ranking, namely, higher values in presence of more uncomfortable tasks. The preliminary assessment of the Method for Movement and Gesture Assessment (MMGA) in the ergonomic evaluation of reaching tasks gave promising results and showed the effectiveness of the index. Moreover, the proposed method was applied for the comparison between a real refrigerator and a new concept: MMGA manifested its applicability and resolution in the quantitative ergonomic assessment of accessibility and usability tasks. Next improvements of MMGA concern the integration of movement dynamics and the design of absolute-assessment studies with respect to working time. Future applications of the method might be the integration into CAD tools and human motion simulation to provide an early comparative evaluation of the ergonomics of the prototyping process and workplace redesign in industry.

Keywords: proactive ergonomics; ergonomic index; movement analysis; posture analysis; occupational biomechanics; ergonomic assessment; joint discomfort; human factors; body movement; gesture assessment; motor tasks; postures; reaching movements; comfort ranking; uncomfortable tasks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFMS.2010.040273

International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation, 2010 Vol.1 No.4, pp.390 - 405

Received: 17 Nov 2009
Accepted: 08 Feb 2011
Published online: 22 May 2011 *

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