MOTORIZED VEHICLE TRENDS
tingent on the ETF. “There is also a reduction in the amount of prototype vehicles that need to be built as well as the time to market,” Stephens added. She sees the efficiencies of the virtual build as insepa-
rable from the ergonomics that eliminate the difficulties and reduce the risk of injury for assembly workers. “They are both engineering issues,” Stephens said. “It’s a very integrated process and the whole virtual build process is really nimble.”
Full Motion-Capture Video Ford’s new EVAL covers 1800 ft2 (167 m2) and centers
around a work area ringed by 23 motion-capture cameras. Inside the area is a jig that can be configured to the virtual dimensions of whatever upcoming model is being put through the process. A worker wearing 52 motion-capture markers and a virtual reality headset then goes through the motions —twisting, stretching, pushing, bending—of assembling components on the vehicle. The headset lets the worker see a highly detailed virtual vehicle and assembly line environment
thanks to feeds from the cameras and the input of the virtual reality software. Engineers assessing the operations can also see the picture painted by those feeds on monitors. However, improvements do not come entirely from the virtual world. Stephens said that Ford gets feedback from the real workers in the real plants in order to learn what is going right and what isn’t. It also brings product specialists—as- semblers with long experience at connecting heater hoses, decking transmissions, connecting dashboard wiring in a vehicle, etc—into EVAL and has them enter the virtual world to evaluate the assembly plan for an upcoming model. “The biggest challenge, we’ve learned from workers, is
forces,” said Stephens. “Insertion efforts, how hard it is to put those electrical connections together, those are the things that are a challenge.” Couple insertion force challenges with access challenges—i.e., can a hand fit into the space where a connection needs to be made—and the problem becomes even more complex.
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Thus whenever an assembly step includes the insertion of something, Stephens said, the protocol automati- cally calls for the step to be checked for hand clearance using a 95th percentile male hand. She said the posture of the assembler during the insertion process is also checked to make sure the as- sembler’s back is not unduly stressed. Digital human models generated
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from the motion-capture cameras are the key to assessing hand clearance, insertion force and posture among many other facets of assembly, she added. What can complicate things even more is when the space through which an assembly operation must be reached is especially complex and irregular. In this case, the ergonomics engineers will commission a 3D-printed model of the components that define the space. This allows the sensor-clad worker to encounter a bit of the real world in the virtual environment, allowing an accurate assessment of the space and assembly process to be made.
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