The REAL MAN Project: Objectives, Results and Possible Follow-up 2005-01-2682

The constraints applied to the design of cars and of other transportation systems imply space-restricted environments for their customers and/or manufacturing or maintenance workers. Consequently, some actions such as getting in and out of a car, or reaching the safety-belt, or loading/unloading the luggage compartment, can be difficult for some customers. For that reason, the designers need CAD-tools to be able to simulate not only the probable postures but the behaviour and movements of these persons, and to assess their discomfort in these situations, taking into account the suppleness- and force-capabilities of the real people, including senior citizens.

Considering these needs, and not satisfied by the existing software and available databases, Renault built a proposal for a European Project called REAL MAN. This project started in the last quarter of 2001 and ended by mid-2004. Its objectives and approach are explained in this paper, and its results are listed, shown and discussed. These appear various in nature: methodology for data acquisition, data refinement and analysis; movement databases; models of movement behaviour and associated discomfort; software specification and demonstrator. After the successful end of the project, some short-term complementary studies and works were undertaken, and the outlines of new themes for research and development in human modelling are discussed and proposed.