The influence of virtual human model appearance on visual ergonomics posture evaluation

The objective of this study was to investigate whether the appearance of virtual human models influences observers when judging a working posture. A task in which a manikin is manually assembling a car battery was used in the experiment. In total, 16 different pictures were presented to the subjects. All pictures had the same background, but included a unique posture and manikin appearance combination. 24 subjects consisting of manufacturing managers, simulation engineers and ergonomists were asked to rate and rank the pictures. The results showed that the virtual human model appearance influenced subjects when they rated pictures one by one: a more realistic manikin was rated higher than the identical posture visualized with a less natural appearance. This appearance effect was not seen when subjects ranked the pictures while looking at all of them at the same time. The study demonstrates that the human modelling tool used when showing and visually evaluating results makes a difference. To minimize subjective effects, a combination of visualizations and objective ergonomic assessment methods is recommended.