CAD features to model physical aspects of human-machine interactions

虚拟产品开发的目的是提供信息，说明在设计过程的早期阶段所做的决策将如何影响最终的产品性能。在这种情况下，计算机辅助工艺链内一致的数据流发挥着至关重要的作用。在许多领域（例如CAM），随着特征技术的引入，这一要求已经得到满足。然而，数字人体模型的过程集成，以解决人体工程学问题仍然没有解决。首先，缺乏以一致的方式对人体模型和CAD几何形状之间的交互进行建模的方法。这个研究项目的目标是增加虚拟产品模型与人机交互的物理方面的信息。这是通过引入一类新的CAD功能来实现的，这些功能将人机界面的几何元素与基本的人类交互可能性（启示）相关联。这种方法有利于对人体工程学的要求，如姿势舒适性和可达性的设计状态的自动评估。此外，可以想象在产品和工作场所设计中同步监控符合人体工程学标准的情况。

The objective of a virtual product development is to provide information on how decisions made in the early stages of the design process will affect the resulting product properties. In this context, a consistent flow of data within the computer aided process chain plays a crucial role. In many areas (e.g. CAM) this requirement has already been fulfilled with the introduction of the feature technology. However, the process integration of digital human models to address ergonomic questions remains unsolved. Primarily, there is a lack of methods to model interactions between the human model and the CAD geometry in a consistent way. The objective of this research project is to augment virtual product models with information on physical aspects of human-machine interactions. This is accomplished by introducing a novel class of CAD features that associate geometric elements of the human-machine interface with fundamental human interaction possibilities (affordances). This approach facilitates an automated evaluation of the design status against ergonomic requirements such as postural comfort and reachability. Moreover a synchronous monitoring of the compliance with ergonomic standards in product and workplace design is imaginable.