Daimler unveils 'Ergonomics Simulation'

Addressing the ergonomic requirements of truck drivers is the main objective of Daimler Trucks' ergonomic simulator, which is being presented at a trade fair in Hanover, Germany, over March 16-20.

Going by the full title of “Ergonomics Simulation in Trucks”, the goal is to address the ergonomic needs of the truck driver at an early stage in the development process of a truck cab.

The cab of a truck such as the Mercedes-Benz Actros is a place where the driver works, lives and sleeps. Early on in the development of a new truck, therefore, the engineers at Mercedes-Benz use virtual tools to check how simple it is to climb into the cab, whether all the necessary controls are within easy reach, and how convenient the driver’s bed is to access.

Daimler AG is collaborating on the project with the Institute for Mechatronics in Chemnitz, Human Solutions Assyst GmbH in Kaiserslautern and Advanced Real-time Tracking in Weilheim. A total of 22 partners from research and industry are involved in the various sub-projects of the ARVIDA (Applied Reference Architecture for Virtual Services and Applications) project.

At the trade fair, Daimler has been demonstrating the virtual tracking scene “Climbing into the cab” on an Actros truck. For this purpose, a test person will be fitted with around 60 optical markers to supply data on every movement. Afterwards, visitors can look over the shoulders of the development engineers as they process and evaluate the data.

The ultimate goal of the project, due for completion in 2016, is to have virtual 3D ergonomics analyses of motion sequences available as early as the concept development phase of a vehicle.

By the final stage of the ARVIDA project, so many movement modules will be stored in a pool that it will be possible to generate any desired, realistic human motion sequences from them in the lab for the purposes of new ergonomics analyses.