Universal design for adaptive handles for adjustment to specific operating scenarios – New effective principles enabled by additive manufacturing

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Optimal human-machine interfaces support the user and increase the user comfort. A good example of this is a conventional static handle, which still represents a compromise for various users and operating scenarios. This is due to its unchangeable shape, which means that it can only be used optimally for a specific application and few operators.The development and realization of an adaptive handle with situational, continuous shape adaptation, depending on the user anthropometry and the operating scenario, requires the consideration of a multitude of different requirements and boundary conditions. This requires interdisciplinary collaboration between the disciplines of ergonomics and engineering design. On the one hand, a description of the design parameters to be varied for specific anthropometry and operating scenarios is missing. On the other hand, there is a lack of suitable effective principles for the technical realization of the required adaptivity. Additive manufacturing (AM) extends the design freedom of established conventional manufacturing processes and thus opens up new design possibilities for the realization of continuous shape changes in the sense of adaptivity. An advantage of AM is the possibility of combining different materials in one component without the need for an additional joining process. The potential of AM with regard to the realization of an adaptive handle design has not yet been explored.Therefore, this research project aims to investigate and realize an adaptive handle using AM-specific effective principles. This approach is facilitated by a close interaction between the disciplines of ergonomics or industrial design engineering and engineering design. The conduction of empirical studies with test persons is the basis for a determination of optimal design parameters for an adaptive handle: structure, shape and surface. Empirical studies are utilized to identify relevant design parameters, which have to be adaptive in terms of universal design. On this basis, a systematic identification, evaluation and experimental investigation of AM-specific effective principles for the realization of shape-variable structures is carried out. The usability is examined and ensured by means of additively manufactured prototypes in test person studies. The participation of persons with different anthropometry as well as physical impairments is a central aspect in the studies. Subjective interviews as well as a measurement of surface pressure are used as parameters for an evaluation of suitability of adaptive handle designs. Thus, the potential of AM effective principles with regard to a realization of adaptive product designs can be evaluated and validated using the example of handles.