Development of simulator for manufacturing system to flexibly suit aged workers' skill and health

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The purpose of the study is to develop a simulator for manufacturing system to evaluate workload and productivity of aged workers in advance. First, evaluation methods included into conventional Digital Human Models were improved. Secondly, some experiments were carried out to determine the evaluation criteria for the skill and health. The results are as follows :1. Three evaluation methods have been developed to supplement the evaluation functions of the Digital Human Model "Jack". They are used for the assessment of fitness between the workers and working surroundings in virtual working world constructed with 3D-CG. They are as follows;(1) Stability assessment for center of gravity of human body(2) Visibility assessment with four criteria; "invisible", "visible by watching", "visible in a moment", "easily visible"(3) Painfulness assessment for upper limb based on height of the limb and torques about the joints during working2. Two methods for measuring swelling of the lower extremities have been developed. The measurements of the swelling during upright standing showed that significant correlation between the swelling and fatigue tiredness was estimated, and the swelling went down due to movement during standing.3. Experiments for investigating the relation between mastering of technical skill and physiological change were carried out. As a result the physiological characteristics became stable as the skill was mastered.4. A database and a GUI for characteristics of aged people and a simulator for manufacturing system enabling to include the factors of aged or women's workers have been developed.The results of the study give many hints to the concept for designing manufacturing system to flexibly suit aged workers' skill and health.