human engineering
-
I. Definition of Ergonomics
What is ergonomics? Most people have heard of ergonomics, and think that ergonomics is a discipline related to seat or car control and instrument design, and so on ... but its coverage is by no means like this! Ergonomics is the application of scientific information related to people in the design of objects, systems and environments, involving all aspects of human life. The ideal design should fully embody the principle of ergonomics in many aspects such as working system, sports, leisure, health and safety.
1, ergonomic
Why is the video recorder one of the most troublesome household appliances to operate? After driving for a long time, why do some car seats make people backache? Why do the staff in some computer operation centers have symptoms of eye fatigue and physical exhaustion? Can't these things that human beings feel headache and inconvenience be overcome? Ergonomics is a way to solve these problems. It integrates people's needs and abilities and is committed to designing a perfect process system. Its purpose is to ensure the complete coordination between human beings and science and technology, that is, to realize the unity of equipment tasks and human characteristics.
Ergonomics is not only widely used in people's daily family environment, but also has more important potential significance to the efficiency, productivity, safety and health of the workplace. For example:
. Carefully configure equipment and systems (including computers) to make them easier to operate and rarely make mistakes. Especially important is the operation with great mental stress and life-threatening, such as the control room.
. Plan tasks and work in detail in order to improve efficiency. Give full consideration to people's needs, such as rest time and reasonable shift mode, as well as other factors, such as work remuneration.
. Reasonable design of equipment and work can improve people's working posture, reduce physical burden, and thus alleviate the symptoms of repetitive limb strain or work-related upper limb disorder.
. Reasonable planning of information resources makes the interpretation and application of manuals, symbols and displays easier and less prone to mistakes.
. Make a perfect training plan, so that it covers all important links related to work and takes into account human learning aspirations.
. The design of military and space facilities puts forward the highest requirements for mankind.
. Planning the working environment includes lighting and heating systems to meet the needs of users and the work itself. When necessary, design personal protective equipment for specific work and unfavorable working environment.
. In developing countries, even the relatively basic technology, acceptance and production efficiency will be greatly improved. The multidisciplinary nature of ergonomics (sometimes called "human factor") immediately appears. Ergonomics usually works together, involving many professional fields, such as design engineers, process engineers, industrial designers, computer experts, doctors, safety and health experts and human resources experts. Its overall goal is to solve practical problems in work and rest with knowledge with human characteristics. We know that people usually have the ability to adapt to bad environment, but this adaptive behavior often leads to inefficiency, error-prone, helpless mental stress and physical and mental fatigue.
2, the composition of ergonomics:
Ergonomics studies the interaction between science and technology, working environment and people, and the natural sciences involved are divided into anatomy, physiology and psychology. Ergonomists use these sciences to achieve two main goals: to tap human potential and safeguard human health and happiness. In short, ergonomics must be "people-oriented" in all aspects, and the working environment cannot reduce people's ability.
The role of anatomy is to improve the physical "harmony" between people and the things they use, covering everything from hand tools to cockpit design. When people's body size is considered, it is not easy to obtain good physical comfort. Anthropometry gives various size data of human body in different postures, while biomechanics studies the activity law of muscles and upper limbs to ensure people to work normally, thus avoiding wasting energy.
The knowledge of human physiology serves two main technical fields: labor physiology emphasizes the energy demand of the body and sets the standard of the working speed and intensity that the human body can bear; Environmental physiology analyzes the influence of external working conditions on people, including heat, noise, vibration and lighting, so as to formulate the most reasonable requirements for these elements.
Psychology is closely related to people's information processing ability and decision-making ability. In short, it can be considered as satisfying the cognitive "cooperation" between people and what they use. Related topics include sensory process, understanding, long-term and short-term memory, decision-making and taking action, including clear thinking of organizational psychology.
In today's high-tech society, the importance of psychological elements of ergonomics should not be underestimated! Avoid the example of a video recorder at the beginning of the article. Ergonomists discussed the design of human-machine interface (HCI), the information display of production process, the compilation of training materials and the planning of human tasks and work. At present, many fields are familiar with the concept of "information overload". With the continuous improvement of automation, in terms of monitoring, supervision and maintenance, the problems related to personnel allocation in routine operations increase the demand for human intelligence, which seems to be contradictory.
3. Ergonomic methods-understanding tasks ... understanding users.
The most fundamental work of ergonomics is to analyze human activities in detail. Ergonomists must study the demands on people and the possible impact of any external changes. Their working method is dubbed "job and task analysis".
The second key element is the understanding of users. For example, "consumer ergonomics" covers a wider range of applications, including home and leisure environment. In this non-working environment, people's variability should be taken as the most important consideration, that is, the people involved should have a comprehensive consideration of their abilities and limitations (including the disabled and the elderly), rather than selecting or training them in the tasks they face.
The concept of "people-oriented design" has a fundamental and humanized impact on the rapid development of contemporary society, involving technology, family and even all walks of life.
4. The origin of ergonomics
Relatively speaking, ergonomics is a relatively new discipline in natural science, and 1999 is its 50th anniversary. However, human beings mainly rely on other scientific fields with a long history, such as engineering, physiology and psychology.
Ergonomics rose during World War II, when scientists designed advanced and improved systems without considering their users at all. It is increasingly clear that if people want to use these systems and products safely and efficiently, many human and environmental factors must be considered in the design. Ergonomics was born when human beings paid attention to their own needs.
Two. Application of ergonomics
How do humans use ergonomics? Ergonomics includes many disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, psychology and industrial design. Ergonomists use their knowledge in all aspects to ensure that products and environment are more comfortable, safe and efficient for people to use.
1, size and shape:
Many years ago, researchers compared the relative position of the lathe operator with the body of an ordinary male worker, and found that the lathe operator had to bend over and move back and forth on both sides of the lathe when working. The "ideal" lathe operator's body should be 4.5 feet high, with 2 feet wide shoulders and 8 feet open arms.
This example shows the defects of the design, and the user's factors were not considered at that time. People have different shapes and figures, and ergonomics usually takes this change into account in the design process.
Anthropology is a branch of ergonomics, which mainly studies human variable factors, such as figure, shape and strength. Ergonomists use anthropometric data to make the places and products they design meet the needs of users.
2. Vision:
Vision is usually the most important source of information for people. But some systems are often designed irrationally, and users can't see their work areas clearly. Many computer operators can't see the display screen clearly because of flicker and reflection, and some people engaged in precision assembly work suffer from glasses fatigue due to insufficient light, thus reducing work efficiency.
3. Voice:
Sound is a useful way to convey information, especially alarms. But don't overload! A new passenger plane has 16 different sound alarms, and too many sound alarms make pilots unable to handle them freely in an emergency. A more reasonable method is to warn the pilot with several signals and let him get information guidance from the vivid display screen.
4, work planning:
One goal of ergonomics is to make overall arrangements to meet people's requirements, which means making full use of the differences between many users, such as body, strength and ability to process information. Then, design tasks, workplaces and tools around these differences, which will help improve efficiency, quality and job satisfaction. On the contrary, the losses include high error rate and physical fatigue, or even worse.
5. Human error:
For some industries, human error will bring disastrous consequences, such as nuclear energy and chemical industry, railway and maritime transportation, aviation and air traffic control.
When an accident happens, people often criticize the operators, pilots and drivers concerned and label them as "human error", even though the accident is usually caused by unreasonable equipment and system design.
Physical workers in these fields pay special attention to the psychological requirements of operators, reasonable task planning and equipment design to minimize the possibility of misreading information or operational errors.
Three. Ergonomic design
What is ergonomic design? Ergonomic design is a design method that fully considers people's abilities and limitations. This helps to ensure that the product meets the needs of the target users.
1, product design:
If the design is unreasonable, even a simple product is a nightmare for users. Our ancestors didn't have this problem, because what they made was only for their own use. Nowadays, product designers are usually far away from the end users of products, which makes it very important to adopt an ergonomic and user-oriented design method, including getting to know the people who use the equipment, talking to them and asking them to test the equipment. When designing daily necessities, the idea of "inclusive design" considering the needs of the elderly and the disabled is particularly important.
2. Product design for the elderly:
In the next 50 years, it is estimated that the number of people over 75 will double. If so, devices, services and systems specially designed for the next generation must expand users.
People need to obtain the ability data of the whole social group (including the elderly and the disabled), including physiological aspects (such as the range of physical activities, strength, vision and hearing), psychological aspects (such as perception, reaction time and memory) and anthropometric data (the range of human figure and shape). With the above information, a conscientious designer has formed a knowledge base and can extract the desired data at any time.
By transforming the existing environment, the quality of life of the elderly and the disabled can be greatly improved. The transformation includes home design, design of public buildings and public places, design and operation of transportation system. Design entities need to consider stairs and slopes, temperature and humidity conditions (cold, wet and hot), safety and convenience; Sensory aspects need to consider auditory effects, lighting, comfort, transportation system, signs and navigation.
From 65438 to 0995, the Government Science and Technology Office launched the "Expand Quality Life" program (EQUAL). This action focuses the research activities on creating a better lifestyle, participating more actively and comprehensively, and avoiding or mitigating the impact of unfavorable conditions. From 65438 to 0997, the study of built environment became an independent field, which made outstanding contributions to the goal of "expanding the quality of life" (EQUAL). At that time, the Engineering and Entity Research Council (EPSRC) funded its research funds, 1 1 funded the project. For details, please click www.epsrc.ac.uk or www.agenet.ac.uk
3. Information design:
Now people's research on human factors and experts' opinions all point to how to improve the use of information. In fact, everyone has the experience that computer software cannot work as expected. For most users of computer programs, if the system can't work normally, they have no choice but to seek technical help, or find creative solutions to the limitations of the system, or use those parts that are still available, bypass other links or use non-standard systems, thus increasing the level of mental stress. If we have a more comprehensive understanding of users' tasks and needs from the beginning, many system errors can be avoided. At present, for ergonomics, developing an easy-to-use man-machine interface has become a major research topic.
Information design is a relative field, which is inextricably linked with the design of symbols, signs and descriptions, and its significance is obvious.
References:
/article/article.asp？ sn = 220 1-200402 17-000 1