Top

Universal Access in the Information Society

Published in:

01-11-2013 | Long paper

Virtual user models for the elderly and disabled for automatic simulated accessibility and ergonomy evaluation of designs

Authors: Nikolaos Kaklanis, Panagiotis Moschonas, Konstantinos Moustakas, Dimitrios Tzovaras

Published in: Universal Access in the Information Society | Issue 4/2013

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for automatic simulated accessibility and ergonomy testing of virtual prototypes of products using virtual user models. The proposed virtual user modeling framework describes virtual humans focusing on the elderly and people with disabilities. Geometric, kinematic, physical, behavioral and cognitive aspects of the user affected by possible disabilities are examined, in order to create virtual user models able to represent people with various functional limitations. Hierarchical task and interaction models are introduced, in order to describe the user’s capabilities at multiple levels of abstraction. The use of alternative ways of a user task’s execution, exploiting different modalities and assistive devices, is supported by the proposed task analysis. Experimental results on the accessibility and ergonomy evaluation of different workplace designs for the use of a telephone and a stapler show how the proposed framework can be put into practice and demonstrate its significant potential.

previous article Advance human–machine interface automatic evaluation

next article A graphical tool to create user interface models for ubiquitous interaction satisfying accessibility requirements

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Anthropos ErgoMAX: Available on-line via http://www.ergomax.de/html/welcome.html (2004). Accessed Jan 2004

Ballinger, D.A., Rintala, D.H., Hart, K.A.: The relation of shoulder pain and range-of-motion problems to functional limitations, disability, and perceived health of men with spinal cord injury: a multifaceted longitudinal study. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 81(12), 1575–1581 (2000), ISSN 0003-9993, doi:10.1053/apmr.2000.18216

Bassett, S.S.: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Clin. Focus Prim. Psychiatry 2005(12), 50–55 (2005)

Bradtmiller, B.: Anthropometry for persons with disabilities: needs in the twenty-first century. In: Proceedings of the RESNA 2000 Annual Conference, pp. 543–548. RESNA Press, Arlington (2000)

Caligiuri, M.P.: Labial kinematics during speech in people with Parkinsonian rigidity. Brain 110, 1033–1044 (1987)CrossRef

Cappelli, T.M., Duffy, V.G.: Motion capture for job risk classifications incorporating dynamic aspects of work. In: Digital Human Modeling for Design and Engineering Conference, Lyon, 4–6 July 2006. SAE International, Warrendale (2006)

Cheng, K.B., Wang, C.H., Chen, H.C., Wu, C.D., Chiu, H.T.: The mechanisms that enable arm motion to enhance vertical jump performance-A simulation study. J. Biomech. 41, 1847–1854 (2008)CrossRef

Didden, R., Korzilius, H., van Aperlo, B., van Overloop, C., de Vries, M.: Sleep problems and daytime problem behaviours in children with intellectual disability. J. Intellect. Disabil. Res. 46, 537–547 (2002)CrossRef

Dilorenzo, P.C., Zordan, V.B., Sanders, B.L.: Laughing out loud: control for modeling anatomically inspired laughter using audio. ACM Trans. Graph. 27(5), 125:1–125:8 (2008)

10.

Feyen, R., Liu, Y., Chaffin, D., Jemmerson, G., Joseph, B.: Computer-aided ergonomics: a case study of incorporating ergonomics analyses into workplace design. Appl. Ergonomics 2000(31), 291–300 (2000)CrossRef

11.

Fortin, C., Gilbert, R., Beuter, A., Laurent, F., Schiettekatte, J., Carrier, R., Dechamplain, B.: SAFEWORK: a microcomputer-aided workstation design and analysis. new advances and future developments. In: Karkowski, W., Genaidy, A.M., Asfour, S.S. (eds.) Computer-Aided Ergonomics, pp. 157–180. Taylor and Francis, London (1990)

12.

Fransen, M., Crosbie, J., Edmonds, J.: Isometric muscle force measurement for clinicians treating patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Arthritis Rheum. 2003(49), 29–35 (2003)CrossRef

13.

Funge, J., Tu, X., Terzopoulos, D.: Cognitive modeling: knowledge, reasoning, and planning for intelligent characters. In: Proceedings of SIGGRAPH’99, pp. 29–38. ACM Press, New York (1999)

14.

Grant, I., McDonald, W.I., Trimble, M.R., Smith, E., Reed, R.: Deficient learning and memory in early and middle phases of multiple sclerosis. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 1984(47), 250–255 (1984)CrossRef

15.

Guerrero García, J., Lemaigre, C., González Calleros, J.M., Vanderdonckt, J.: Towards a model-based user interface development for workflow information systems. Int. J. Univ. Comput. Sci. 14(19), 3160–3173 (2008)

16.

Guerrero Garcia, J., Vanderdonckt, J., Gonzalez Calleros, J.M.: Towards a Multi-Users Interaction Meta-Model. IAG Working Paper 08/28, Université catholique de Louvain (2008b)

17.

Hinchcliffe, R.: The threshold of hearing as a function of age. Acustica 9, 303–308 (1959)

18.

Hodgins, J.K., Wooten, W.L., Brogan, D.C., O’Brien, J.F.: Animating human athletics. In: Proceedings of the 1995 SIGGRAPH Conference, pp. 71–78 (1995)

19.

Kähler, K., Haber, J., Yamauchi, H., Seidel, H.P.: Head shop: generating animated head models with anatomical structure. In: ACM SIGGRAPH/EG Symposium on Computer Animation, pp. 55–64 (2002)

20.

Kaklanis, N., Moschonas, P., Moustakas, K., Tzovaras, D.: Enforcing accessible design of products and services by enabling automatic accessibility evaluation. In: CONFIDENCE 2010 (2010)

21.

Kaklanis, N., Moustakas, K., Tzovaras, D.: An extension of UsiXML enabling the detailed description of users including elderly and disabled. In: Coyette, A., Faure, D., Gonzalez, J.M., Vanderdonckt, J. (eds.) Proceedings of 2nd International Workshop on User Interface eXtensible Markup Languages USIXML’2012 (Lisbon, 6 Sept 2011), pp. 194–201. Thalès Productions, Paris (2011)

22.

Komura, T., Shinagawa, Y., Kunii, T.L.: Creating and retargeting motion by the musculoskeletal human body model. Vis. Comput. 16(5), 254–270 (2000)CrossRef

23.

Laitila, L.: Datormanikinprogram om verktyg vid arbetsplatsutformning—En kritisk studie av programanvändning. Thesis. Luleå Technical University, Luleå (2005)

24.

Lamkull, D., Hanson, L., Ortengren, R.: A comparative study of digital human modelling simulation results and their outcomes in reality: a case study within manual assembly of automobiles. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 39(2009), 428–441 (2009)CrossRef

25.

Lee, S.H., Terzopoulos, D.: Heads up! Biomechanical modeling and neuromuscular control of the neck. ACM Trans. Graph. 25(3), 1188–1198. In: Proc. ACM SIGGRAPH 06 (2006)

26.

Limbourg, Q., Vanderdonckt, J.: Multi-path transformational development of user interfaces with graph transformations. In: Seffah, A., Vanderdonckt, J., Desmarais, M. (eds.) Human-Centered Software Engineering, Chapter 6, HCI Series, pp. 109–140. Springer, London (2009)

27.

Lind, S., Krassi, B., Johansson, B., Viitaniemi, J., Heilala, J., Stahre, J., Vatanen, S., Fasth, Å., Berlin., C.: SIMTER: A production simulation tool for joint assessment of ergonomics, level of automation and environmental impacts. In: The 18th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM 2008), 30 June–2 July (2008)

28.

Lubrano, E., Helliwell, P.: Deterioration in anthropometric measures over six years in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: an initial comparison with disease duration and reported exercise frequency. Physiotherapy 85(3), 138–143 (1999), ISSN 0031-9406. doi:10.1016/S0031-9406(05)65694-5

29.

Maciel, A., Nedel, L.P., Freitas, C.M.: Anatomy Based Joint Models for Virtual Human Skeletons. IEEE Computer Animation, Geneva (2002)

30.

Marshall, R., Case, K., Porter, J.M., Sims, R.E., Gyi, D.E.: Using HADRIAN for eliciting virtual user feedback in ‘design for all’. J Eng Manuf Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. B 218(9), 1203–1210 (2004)CrossRef

31.

Meulen, P., van der Seidl, A.: RAMSIS—The leading cad tool for ergonomic analysis of vehicles, digital human modeling. In: HCII 2007, LNCS 4561, pp. 1008–1017 (2007)

32.

Mikelberg, F.S., Drance, S.M.: The mode of progression of visual field defects in glaucoma. Am. J. Ophthalmol. 98(4), 443–445 (1984)CrossRef

33.

Moschonas, P., Kaklanis, N., Tzovaras, D.: Novel human factors for ergonomy evaluation in virtual environments using virtual user models. In: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Virtual Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry (VRCAI’11), pp. 31–40. ACM, New York (2011). doi:10.1145/2087756.2087760

34.

Nakano, K.K., Zubick, H., Tyler, H.R.: Speech defects of Parkinsonian patients. Neurology (Minneap.) 1973(23), 865–870 (1973)CrossRef

35.

Phillips, C.B., Badler, N.I.: Jack: A toolkit for manipulating articulated figures. In: Proceedings of the 1st Annual ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on User Interface Software, pp. 221–229. ACM, New York (1988)

36.

Porter, J., Case, K., Freer, M.T., Bonney, M.C.: Automotive Ergonomics, Chapter Computer-aided ergonomics design of automobiles. Taylor and Francis, London (1993)

37.

Porter, J.M., Marshall, R., Freer, M., Case, K.: SAMMIE: a computer aided ergonomics design tool. In: Delleman, N.J., Haslegrave, C.M., Chaffin, D.B. (eds.) Working Postures and Movements—Tools for Evaluation and Engineering, pp. 454–462. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2004)

38.

Radhakrishnan, S., Nagaravindra, M.: Analysis of hand forces in health and disease during maximum isometric grasping of cylinders. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 31, 372–376 (1993)CrossRef

39.

Shapiro, A., Faloutsos, P., Ng-Thow-Hing, V.: Dynamic animation and control environment. In: Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2005, pp. 61–70 (2005)

40.

Sideridis, G.D.: On the origins of helpless behavior of students with learning disabilities: avoidance motivation? Int. J. Educ. Res. 39, 497–517 (2003)CrossRef

41.

SimTk: OpenSim (2008). https://simtk.org/home/opensim

42.

Smith, S., Norris, B., Peebles, L.: Older Adult Data—The Handbook of Measurements and Capabilities of the Older Adult. Department of Trade and Industry, London (2000)

43.

Superstein, R., Boyaner, D., Overbury, O., Collin, C.: Glare disability and contrast sensitivity before and after cataract surgery. J. Cataract Refract. Surg. 1997(23), 248–253 (1997)CrossRef

44.

US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: National Strategic Research Plan. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (1993)

45.

Van Nierop, O.A., Van der Helm, A., Overbeeke, K.J., Djajadiningrat, T.J.: A natural human hand model. Vis. Comput. 24(1), 31–44 (2008)CrossRef

46.

Vieregge, P., Stolze, H., Klein, C., Heberlein, I.: Gait quantification in Parkinson’s disease—locomotor disability and correlation to clinical rating scales. J Neural Transm. 1997(104), 237–248 (1997)CrossRef

47.

VSR Research Group: Technical Report for Project Virtual Soldier Research. Tech. rep., Center for Computer-Aided Design, The University of IOWA (2004)

48.

Wooten, W.: Simulation of Leaping, Tumbling, Landing, and Balancing Humans. PhD Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology (1998, March)

49.

Yan, W., Forsyth, D.: Learning the behavior of users in a public space through video tracking. In: Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), Breckenridge (2005)

Title: Virtual user models for the elderly and disabled for automatic simulated accessibility and ergonomy evaluation of designs
Authors: Nikolaos Kaklanis
Panagiotis Moschonas
Konstantinos Moustakas
Dimitrios Tzovaras
Publication date: 01-11-2013
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Universal Access in the Information Society / Issue 4/2013
Print ISSN: 1615-5289
Electronic ISSN: 1615-5297
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-012-0281-0

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 4/2013

Stories and signs in an e-learning environment for deaf people

Accessibility aspects in UIDLs

Advance human–machine interface automatic evaluation

Bengali text input interface design for mobile devices

Equivalent representations of multimodal user interfaces

A graphical tool to create user interface models for ubiquitous interaction satisfying accessibility requirements

Premium Partner