HELICOPTER CREW STATION DESIGN USING A COMPUTERIZED HUMAN MODEL

A computerized modeling system, Program MACMAN (McDonnell Anthropometric Computerized Man-Model), has been developed to assist in designing helicopter crew stations. MACMAN combines a three-dimensional representation of the human body with the crew station geometry. The human body model consists of twelve segments whose dimensions and kinematic constraints have been determined from studies of human anthropometry. MACMAN is menu-driven and very user-friendly. The human model sizes can be interactively changed to represent 5th percentile female through 95th percentile male crew members. The human model can also be animated to evaluate reach envelopes and collision and interaction detection. MACMAN has been validated and used in design of the MD900 crew station, dramatically reducing the time needed to construct mockups and design iterations.