Generation of Boundary Manikin Anthropometry 2008-01-2107
The purpose of this study was to develop 3D digital ‘boundary manikins’ that are representative of the anthropometry of a unique population. These digital manikins can be used by designers to verify and validate that the components of the spacesuit design satisfy the requirements specified in the Human Systems Integration Requirements (HSIR) document. Currently, the HSIR requires the next generation space suit to accommodate the 1st percentile American female to the 99th percentile American male.
The manikin anthropometry was derived using two methods: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Whole Body Posture Based Analysis (WBPBA). PCA is a statistical method for reducing a multidimensional data set by using eigenvectors and eigenvalues. The goal was to create a reduced data set that encapsulates the majority of the variation in the population. WBPBA is a multivariate analytical approach that was developed by the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) to identify the extremes of a population for a given body posture. WBPBA is a simulation-based method that finds extremes in a population based upon anthropometry and posture; whereas PCA is based solely on anthropometry.
Both methods yielded a list of subjects and their anthropometry from a target population; PCA resulted in 20 female and 22 male subjects' anthropometry and WBPBA resulted in 7 subjects' anthropometry representing the extreme subjects in the target population. The subjects' anthropometry was then used to ‘morph’ a baseline digital scan of a person with the same body type to create a 3D digital model that can be used as a tool for designers.
