Techniques in anthropometry applied to disabled and elderly populations

We discuss the requirements of anthropometric and biomechanical data for specific application to the design of assistive devices and other products for elderly and disabled populations, including body size, shape, range of motion and strength data. We analyse available information and the practical and statistical problems involved in the collection of data from such populations. We comment on the different human interface design issues posed by various types of device and compare a task-specific approach to ergonomic analysis with the use of a generic biomechanical database. The specific requirements of a useful biomechanical data collection system intended to fulfil this need, and the conditions under which a practical system would have to operate are discussed. We review a range of available measurement techniques, including manual, mechanical, optical and electronic systems and discuss their relative fitness for the task in question. We propose an approach to the collection of multi-variable biomechanical data from the analysis of various tasks and discuss the use of computer models and other means of interpreting such data to make it available to product designers and engineers.