At the 2002 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress in March, SAE International signed a Memorandum of Understanding with VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure), the German Association of Engineers. One of the major goals of the MOU is to serve the interests and needs of the members of both societies by encouraging participation in joint events for the dissemination and exchange of technical information. The first joint event to take place as a result of this partnership is the 5th Annual Digital Human Modeling Conference & Exhibition (DHMC) scheduled June 18-20, 2002 at the Forum Hotel in Munich, Germany.
Digital Human Modeling is an essential element of product development. By applying this technology to integrate human qualities into the early stages of design, engineers effectively increase safety and comfort levels while achieving rapid product optimization.
These advantages were recognized early on in the aerospace and ground vehicle engineering industries. As DHM technology advanced in these industrial branches, the method came to be recognized by other fields of research. In the area of sports, for example, DHM offers new approaches to measure the actions of people to propose optimal training methods as well as improving the conception of athletic equipment. The use of DHM is also firmly established within the medical field.
DHMC 2002 will address this technology and the many applications it has throughout a number of industries. In addition to more than 30 high-quality technical papers, attendees will benefit from a daily plenary lecture by industry experts focusing on an application of digital human modeling. The lectures include: “Application of Human Models in Medicine”, H.-F. Zeilhofer, TU Munich; “Methods for Predicting Human Motions used in Ergonomic Assessments”, D.B. Chaffin, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and “The importance of VR-methods within the product development process of the BMW Group”, S. Reichl, BNW Group, Munich.
An exhibition will compliment the technical program to display the latest products allowing attendees to gain “hand-on” knowledge of the technology. A tour to the Institute of Ergonomics, Technical University Munich on June 17 will give participants insight into the current research activities while visiting facilities including the driving simulator, pneumatic chair, 3D laser scanner and other tools used for digital human modeling.
For more information, see www.sae.org/dhmc.