Constructing ergonomic safety modelling for evaluating new designs of child car seats

Abstract

The safety and ergonomic compatibility are the most important parts for designing child car seats. Since the children, especially the infants, cannot objectively express their aptitudes of safety, comfort and opinions very well, they cannot be suitable subjects for ergonomic design experiments. Applying computers to simulate human motions for solving ergonomic design problems has been explored for many years, especially in substituting real human engaging in high risking tasks. However, in some specific fields of product design, intelligent man-machine (abbreviated as IMM) models suitable for designers are scarcely studied. The main purpose of this paper is trying to construct a totally new IMM model to aid designers of child car seats in the process of evaluating their new design concepts. The new computerized child model with self-adjusting functions can be fitted to car seat designed by any designers. The designer can maneuver the model to understand the potential design risks and ergonomic compatibility, and then improve his design. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.