International Council for Science : Committee on Data for Science and Technology

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C O D A T A

Anthropometric Data and Engineering

As approved by the CODATA General Assembly, Berlin 2004
Renewal approved by the CODATA 25th General Assembly, Beijing 2006

http://ovrt.nist.gov/projects/wear/

The CODATA Task Group on Anthropometric Data and Engineering was approved as a new Task Group at the 24th CODATA General Assembly in Berlin.

Anthropometry is the science of human body dimensions.

Users of anthropometric (human body size) information want to push a button to get an answers to their application questions. However at this point even some of the simplest problems require an expert to intervene. The objective of this project is to identify and develop data models, software tools, theoretical constructs and principles that support the development of an on-line world-wide information system for utilizing the latest anthropometry databases in engineering environments. This system, the World Engineering Anthropometry Resource (WEAR), would include not only the latest 3D surface anthropometric data from all over the world, but also traditional anthropometric data, fit and accommodation information, analytic and software tools, and guidance or intelligent agents for using the information effectively. There are three basic research issues which must be addressed: 1) understanding the cognitive processes of an anthropometry expert when dealing with such databases, 2) identifying a means to computationally replicate these processes, and 3) characterizing huge populations of 3-D objects (human body scans) in a manner that can be effectively searched, mined and visualized. Such an information system would be able to be continually updated by registered users, and the information contained in it distributed throughout the world. This front-end study would determine the best potential technologies for replicating the experts and characterizing populations of 3-D objects in a systems approach that takes into account all of the other aspects and requirements of such a resource. New 3-D surface anthropometry data represents a valuable global resource if methods can be developed to exploit its potential.

Anthropometric data are collected and used by all types of organizations for many types of applications. These include universities, hospitals, health statistics departments, militaries, apparel companies, furniture manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, safety equipment companies, aerospace companies, and many other industries and organizations. Given the global nature of commerce most industries are interested in data from many countries, however, collecting this data is expensive. It would benefit everyone if the data collected by different organizations could be quickly and easily shared. We expect to be able to leverage evolving Web technologies for describing semantics such as XML Schema and RDF and to apply them to anthropometry. There are however, many challenges including: multiple data modalities; massive database size; lack of 3D object searching technology; measurement terminology differences; accessibility; ownership issues and many more. The technology needed to create such a system is spread throughout the world and across many disciplines. Furthermore, since the information system needs to be a worldwide resource it will be necessary to have participants throughout the world collaborate from the very start of the process.

We currently have participants from 10 countries illustrated in the map below:

We have had two international workshops since the 2004 General Assembly. The first, in April 2005 in Johannesburg South Africa, and the second in December 2005 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Web site produced for the Brazil meeting: http://www.wearbrasil.com/

In collaboration with the 16^th World Congress on Ergonomics IEA2006 (International Ergonomics Association) conference, we will be holding a panel session and demonstrations of the current state of the WEAR project. Information can be found at http://www.iea2006.org/

We expect the Task Group to substantially contribute to the creation of a world wide unification of anthropometric methods, data and terminology which will be made accessible via a set of Web Services. The types of data we are using include: anthropometric measures; strength; reach; kinematics and so on. One of the key goals concerning the data is that of quality. There exist a large number of anthropometry and related surveys however objective measures of the quality of these surveys are somewhat lacking. We are well along the definition of a set of quality metrics that can be used to evaluate the data surveys.

The following illustrations are from the group in Japan performing the work on quality: