Human reach envelope and zone differentiation for ergonomic design

Abstract

In human-centric design, the human reach envelope is one of the most important components to help layout design for workstations, vehicles, and aircrafts. It also can help people to study the range of motion of different body segments. Various methods have been developed to determine human reach envelopes. This article presents different methods and common challenges. Human reach envelopes only give feedback concerning whether a point is reachable. This is not enough for the designers. The more important information the designers need to know is the zones with different discomfort levels. This capability is a powerful tool for ergonomic designers. In addition, a methodology for workspace solid zone differentiation or surface zone differentiation in the three-dimensional space is presented. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.