• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.19.1-24
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• 1998

Designers often hesitate to decide the shape, size, and layout of a product. Though ergonomic principles and data are absolutely needed in this process, they don't have enough guidelines to refer. For the refrigerator designers, they also are not convinced of their decision: the vertical position of the freezing and refrigerating rooms, the height of shelves, the shape of door-handle, and etc. To support the refrigerator design, we applied several ergonomic methods to the evaluation of a refrigerator. EMG measurement was used to evaluate the load of user's lumbar muscle. Based upon the experimental EMG data, we developed a model to predict the relative load according to the height of refrigerator shelves. Two different layouts of a refrigerator, R/F and F/R style, were compared with the model. A three-dimenaional motion analysis method was used to evaluate the user's motion of using a refrigerator. Ten door-handles with the different shapes and positions were evaluated by tracking the rotations of the user's arm. Video protocol analysis was used to evaluate the user interface of a control panel in a refrigerator. Finally, we made several ergonomic design guidelines based on the facts found in this research and the anthropometric data of the Korean adults. The results of this study can be applied to the ergonomic design of a refrigerator.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2660-2664
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• 2003

In this study, the concept of autonomous mobility is applied to a medical service robot. The aim of the development of the service robot is for the elderly assisting walking rehabilitation. This study aims that the service robot design parameter is proposed in ergonomic view. The walking assistant path pattern is derived from analyzing the elderly gait analysis. A lever is installed in the AMR in order to measure the pulling force and the leading force of the elderly. A lever mechanism is applied for walking assistant service of the AMR. This lever is designed for measuring the leading force of the elderly. The elderly adjusts the velocity of the robot by applying force to the lever. The action scope and the service mechanism of the robot are developed for considering and analyzing the elderly action patterns. The ergonomic design parameters, that is, dimensions, action scope and working space are determined based on the elderly moving scope. The gait information is acquired by measuring the guide lever force by load cells and working pattern by the electromyography signal.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.3525-3537
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• 1996

This paper presents a CAD program develpoed on a microcomputer in order to support graphic and computational assessment of ergonomic problems associated with the design of a man-in-cab system. The program is coded to help workspace designers with ergonomic evaluations needed in the design stage. This paper proposed a biomechanical -ergonomic evaluations needed using man and workplace models. The human model is developed to have dimensions obtained from the Korean anthropometric data reported in 1992. Its graphical representation is based on a wire-frame model but, whenever necessary, body segments can be represented by a solid model with hidden line/faces removed and shaded. Workplace models are presented for cabs of the excavator, one of the most popular construction vehicles. A workplace model consists of an operator seat, a steering wheel. two control levers, two pedals, and a control panel. The workplace elements can be modified in their sizes, positions, and orientations by changing the reference point and design parameters. An algorithm for the view test is suggested and loaded to provide a visual evaluaiton of the overall layout of a workplace model.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.56-67
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• 2005

The Processes of a new product design based on ergonomics and customer satisfaction have been studied for years. However, few attempts have been made to systematically include ergonomic design concept to communication service design. Service design can be regarded as a specific type of product design in a way that the processes of product design can also be employed to those of service design. However, a few difficulties may often arise in doing so. First, services have no explicit tangible features, which implies that a customer may not properly appraise contents, quality and functionality of newly designed services with a prototype before launching into market. Second, customer demands on services change more rapidly according to advances in related technology. In the study, we examined earlier studies of product design process and identified that a service design process must alos conform ergonomic methodology, extracting innovative values for creativitybased design and subsequently evaluate its level of customer satisfaction. In this study, we proposed a customer-centered ergonomic design process for communication services. This process includes a hierarchical structure of service requirement identification, customer-centered trend analysis, service scenario development and service evaluation. To prove the practicality of the design process, a case study of communication service design was conducted according to the procedure that follows.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.499-523
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• 2017

Objective: This study is to provide a foundation for developing comprehensive ergonomic design guidelines for in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) by giving an overview of existing researches as well as setting further research directions. Background: The drivers get much more information recently while interacting with new safety functions of the cars. To avoid cognitive overload of the drivers, IVIS should be deigned appropriately by considering various human factors and task conditions. Method: We gathered, analyzed, and summarized ergonomic researches concerned with IVIS design conducted inside and outside Korea according to a categorization system proposed in the study. Frequency analysis was conducted for figuring out what kind of issues took major part of the researches, and their trends across time and regions. Results: Compared to domestic researches, those done in overseas tend to deal with more variety of independent, dependent and extraneous variables. The overseas researches also showed a tendency to get ahead in making ergonomic guidelines for IVIS design by adapting and integrating the results from previous researches. Conclusion and Application: There have been many researches regarding with ergonomic IVIS design, but some of their results became old-fashioned as the technology evolved. Not many researches have considered diverse human factors regarding the drivers' characteristics except age and gender. It is expected that researchers and designers take advantage of this study to find and review relevant results and set out issues of their own for more progressive researches of the field.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.97-108
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• 2014

Objective:The present study is intended to evaluate the usability of a console chair for a weapon locating radar by comparing with different kinds of chair design. Background: Console chairs need to be ergonomically designed to reduce physical workload of operators and improve mission capability; few studies have been reported which systematically evaluate usability of military console chairs. Method: Ergonomic design of a console chair, a bus seat, and an office chair was evaluated in terms of headrest, seatback, seatpan, armrest, and controller on a 7-point scale. Ten males in their 20s and 30s were recruited considering the demographic characteristics of console operators. Results: The satisfaction scores of the console chair for headrest, seatback, and seatpan were significantly higher than those of the bus seat (mean difference [MD] = 0.9) and office chair (MD = 1.3). Meanwhile, the satisfaction scores of the console chair for armrest and controller were significantly lower than those of the office chair (MD = -1.4) and bus seat (MD = -2.2). Conclusion: The armrest and controller of the console chair needs ergonomic improvements for better comfort. Application: The evaluation results of the console chair would be of use for ergonomic console chair design.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.51-62
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• 2006

The concept of universal design has recently emerged as an important aspect of product design. Universal design is considerably analogous to ergonomic design in a way that it takes the capabilities and limitations of users into consideration during the product development process. However, relatively few studies have been devoted to reflect the practical use of ergonomic principles on universal design. This research attempts to develop a universal design index for mobile phone design to quantify how well a product complies with principles of universal design. The research also emphasizes on ergonomic principles as a basis of evaluation. A generation of the evaluation items was done by cross-checking among the personal, activity and product components. Personal components consist of human characteristics including age, physique, perceptual capacity, life-style, etc. Activity components were derived from those scenarios of mobile phone use while product components were composed of the parts to which a user interacts. Further analysis systematically generated a universal index from relationship matrices among the three components. The index was then used to test its suitability by applying to the evaluation of mobile phones currently on the market. This study demonstrates a development process through which evaluations can be made possible for universal design. The research suggests an improved approach to the appraisal of how well mobile phones are universally designed based on ergonomic principles.

• Archives of design research
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• v.21
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• pp.123-136
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• 1997

The work of design needs not only a lot of scientific information, but also a artistic sensitivity. Designers require abundant imagination to translate the information of the design, into the Gestaltung. Particularly, the translation of ergonomic information into the elements and grammar of the Gestaltung needs an interface. In order to consider the theoretical possibility for this, a view of fundamental notions, the function of design semantics and ergonomic problems in the design process were analyzed. The purpose of this study is the exploration and relevance of the theoretical model for human factors and design semantics, to see if they could be harmonized as a system of a new design method.

• Archives of design research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2000

Writing instruments or pens have many features not commonly found in other products in terms of their structure and characteristics of use. That is, different pens are usually composed of almost identical parts and/or structure. The fact they work always grabbed in hands considered, the ergonomic design of pens is essential. Reports indicate consumers evaluate pens in writing comfort above all other factors when they select pens. Among various factors related to writing comfort, it shouldspecifically be the ergonomic improvements that design can effectively contribute to. Studies on the pen-grabbing comfort or on approaches based on the understanding of human-work relationships generally lack when compared with fashion-conscious aesthetic approaches to pen design. This paper, therefore, aims to reestablish the ergonomic design criteria including the necessities of specifications required to provide indispensable data for the pen design processes. Consequently, it should produce basic set of information for systematic approach to pen design and development, which is commonly called'concurrent engineering'. Also a cost-effective solution for product diversification strategy could be attributed to a modular system database based on the result of this attempt.

• IE interfaces
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.85-99
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• 1988

High Touch product is characterized by shorter life cycle together with specification/integration of existing function in order to capitalize the rapidly emerging high technology. R & D strategy for a development of High Touch product generally emphasizes two aspects ; Industrial Design (ID) and Ergonomic Design (ED). However, working knowledge on ED of a systematic identification of potential High Touch products is not readily available. The purpose of this study was three-folded : (1) To emphasize the fact that greater efforts should be geared to ED in High Touch design ; (2) To develop an ergonomic approach based on analysis of implicit human needs that identifies potential area of High Touch ; (3) To bubble with new and probable High Touch products in home electronics that actually demonstrate the validity of this study.