Development of a New Manikin Prototype Featuring an Articulated/Flexible Spine and Integrated Data Acquisition and Storage System

The research use of manikins for test and evaluation of escape and crashworhty seating systems, life support devices and a variety of safety equipment is well documented by the military and automotive communities. The manikin functions to load the aircraft or automotive seating system, interacting with the surrounding environment and optimally simulates human biodynamic response to transitory acceleration. Ideally, the manikin response closely approximates human responses, enabling direct comparison and correlation to known human test data. However, manikins provide only a partial correlation to humans, having limited biofidelity and biodynamic response. The requirement to measure and quantify the 3D response of the manikin have imposed significant electronics and instrumentation requirments, further complicating the attempts to provided improved biodynamic response characteristics to the manikin. Consequently, the new generation of advanced manikins must provide the biofidelity of its human counterpart, while concurrently supporting the instrumentation and high density, low cost electronics to measure and record the response dynamics.

This publication details the design and development of an enhanced manikin form incorporating all instrumentation and data acquisition capabilities to record and reconstruct the six degree of freedom response of the manikin. The manikin is designed to enhance biofidelity and provided a three dimensional biodynamic response, attempting to approximate that of the human.