Ergoniza Intelligent

5.3 Inertial parameters

Ergoniza Intelligent estimates the mass, length, and center-of-gravity location of each body segment from the sex, height, and body mass entered for the person being assessed. In the interface, the estimated mass of each segment is shown under Weight and expressed in kilograms. These estimates use segmental anthropometric parameters obtained from studies of living people and cadavers1.

To estimate lengths, Ergoniza Intelligent uses anthropometric relationships that express the length of each segment as a proportion of height. Drillis and Contini obtained these relationships from measurements of living subjects and performed a statistical regression against the height variable. This makes it possible to estimate the length of each segment as a proportion of the individual's height.

Segment masses and center-of-gravity locations are estimated using coefficients that relate these quantities to total body mass and the length of each segment. Because these are population-based estimates, the resulting values should not be interpreted as direct measurements of the person being assessed.

Estimation of body-segment mass and length.

Figure 9: Estimation of body-segment mass and length.

Figure 9 shows the estimated mass and length of the body segments for a person with a body mass of 70 kg and a height of 1.70 m. To display these data, enable Dimensions in the Visualization panel on the right side of the interface.

  1. W. T. Dempster, Space Requirements of the Seated Operator. (Technical Report WADC-TR-55-159), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH: Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (Dayton, 1955); Charles E Clauser, John T McConville, and J W Young, “Weight, Volume, and Center of Mass of Segments of the Human Body,” National Technical Information Service, 1969; R. Contini, R. J. Drillis, and M. Bluestein, “Determination of Body Segment Parameters,” Human Factors: The Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 5, no. 5 (1963): 493–504, doi:10.1177/001872086300500508; P. De Leva, “Adjustments to Zatsiorsky-Seluyanov’s Segment Inertia Parameters,” Journal of Biomechanics 29, no. 9 (1996): 1223–30, doi:10.1016/0021-9290(95)00178-6.↩︎

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