A methodology to access ergonomic aspects of a front door assembly workstation by means of the combination of Virtual Reality and Motion Capturing

Ergonomics is a key aspect to consider in the design of a manufacturing process. The main reason is to optimize the workers’ well-being and ensure the required process performances. Moreover, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are the most common injuries related to the workplace and companies spend a huge amount of money every year due to WMSD. Traditional design approaches are based on the observation of the worker performing the activity to identify awkward postures and criticalities so that required changes can be introduced at the workstation. However, this approach allows observers to recognize issues only after the workstation has been implemented and the activity started. Nowadays, with the increasing level of digitalization and the new Industry 4.0 technologies, companies are able to take into consideration ergonomic aspects related to the job activity since the early design stages of the workstation. This work proposes a methodology to evaluate possible ergonomic criticalities in the assembly process of a vehicle's front door, by exploiting the potentialities of using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in combination with Motion Capturing (MoCap) activity. The system has been created starting from the development of the VR environment using Unreal Engine 5 (all the input data required for this task have been provided by Stellantis); then, after consulting the available literature, it has been decided to use the Microsoft Kinect v2 sensor for the user motion tracking. The experimental activity was conducted using three subjects with different body measurements. Each subject has performed, after an initial phase of training, three attempts performing the entire task sequence related to the workstation. At last, the data gathered have been analyzed through a MATLAB code specifically developed for this porpoise. The obtained results highlighted how the combination of these two technologies can help companies to consider human-factors aspects since the early development stages without the need of building any physical prototype, possibly allowing them to save time and money and enhance workers' safety and health.