Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
or designing visual display unit (VDU) equipment and systems
.
When
Menozzi, M.,
et al
(1999) conducted studies comparing cathode ray tube (CRT) display and liquid crystal
display (LCD) for their suitability in visual tasks in VDU, it was found that LCD provided
better viewing conditions compared to CRT display. Nichols, S. (1999) investigated the
design of VR equipment in respect to the physical ergonomics such as head mounted
display (HMD) and hand-held input devices and the problems associated with it. Shieh and
Lin (2000) investigated the effect of screen type, ambient lighting and colour combination on
VDT to visual performance and found that those factors do affect VDT performance. Lin
(2003) studied the effects of contrast ratio and text colour on visual performance using TFT-
LCD and found that contrast ratio significantly affects visual performance. In 2007, after
being approved by ANSI on 14
th
November, the Human Factor Engineering Society
published the new national standard for human factor engineering of computer workstation
(ANSI/HFES100), which eventually becomes the comprehensive ergonomics guideline in
the design of a VDT.
Ergonomics research related to virtual environment has been conducted in the past, but the
focus of the research is only on the use of VE as a tool in ergonomics analysis (Shaikh,I.,
et al
,
2004; Colombo and Cugini, 2005; Pappas, M.,
et al
, 2005; Dukic, T.,
et al,
2007; Hu, B,
et al
,
2011). Shaikh,I.,
et al
, (2004) studied on participatory ergonomics using VR and found that
VR system will help towards designing better workplaces. Colombo and Cugini (2005)
researched on virtual humans and prototypes, evaluating ergonomics and safety. While
Pappas, M.
et al
(2005) investigated on ergonomic evaluation of virtual assembly tasks.
Other researchers such as Dukic, T
et al
(2007) researched on the evaluation of ergonomics in
a virtual manufacturing process and Hu, B.
et al
(2011) presented preliminary experimental
results on the relationship between ergonomic measurements in VE and RE for some typical
“drilling” tasks.
It has been noted that no research on ergonomics design criteria for designing a virtual
environment has been reported. Thus, the objective of this study in identifying the
ergonomics design criteria for designing a Virtual Environment is imperative.
2. Material and methods
2.1 Subjects
Eight university students participated in the study. None of the participants suffered from
any vestibular and visual dysfunction and were not taking any medication during the
experiments. The mean age was 21.7 years old (aged 19-23 years). Prior to the experiment,
informed consent was obtained about the nature of the experiment and the objectives of the
experiment as well as participant rights were fully explained. Participants were tested
individually during the entire experiment session and received payment for their
participation. Ishihara plates for Pseudo Isochromatic test were used to test normal visual of
a subject. The test for colour blindness was adapted from Courtney (1986).
2.2 Apparatus
2.2.1 Virtual stimulus
The virtual stimulus system used is a virtual robot manufacturing system (from here
onwards to be referred only as the virtual environment (VE)). This Virtual Environment
