The economy seating design and evaluation was carried out for BE Aerospace as part of the R.E.D Lab initiative. I was the Research Assistant setting up all the equipment, subject handling, creating surveys and data sheets and also coming up with randomized variable means of testing. The subject was seated in 3 prototype seating designs with various changes in seating height, ankle support angles and also with the lumbar support angles.

Electrodes were placed at all the muscles to be tested and EMG was taken for various trials. Also the subject was simulated to be in an aircraft setting and so we set up TV’s and books and other luxuries to keep them in their seats for 8 hrs of testing. An accelerometer was also used to record activity in the knee muscles. The subjects were made to sit on a conformat® which provided a map of the various pressure distribution points so the peak pressure distribution could be calculated versus time.

A brief example of the surveys created. I created both qualitative and quantitative surveys to measure discomfort and also to have regular readings after a trial. Most of the results are tabulated on the right side with graphs.

Aging grip span study was a great project to understand how grip span and sensitivity of textures get affected by age. The purpose was to develop age sensitive guidelines for product development by understanding how grip span, muscle fatigue and recovery changed with age. Results of this process were used to document the benefits of design research in the development of ergonomic interventions, product design and universal design.

A brief pictorial review of the various test methodologies used and also the postures experimented are show above.

I also had the opportunity to work on a literature review for Toyota motor co® on a new production apparatus they were considering to deploy in their manufacturing plants to help workers work easily with heavier loads. Instead of using the regular typed and written information display, i developed an easier interactive tabulated document that could be easily referenced from everyone on the plant floor to the upper management.

A sample sheet of how the literature review looked like and with various categories and data links provided references to where the information was collected from and also on where some of the items could be procured. This project enabled me to fully understand data collections and the use of various databases for research of journals and articles.

An important part of design research is to validate your findings with the products designed after all the data collection. I have fortunately had the opportunity to test the products i designed with equipment from the lab to understand various human factor design considerations and make logical decisions based on the findings.

I also had the opportunity to work on an ethnographic project, but i could not show the actual images of the project which is why i had to substitute an alternate image.

I am from india, a country abundant with culture and diversity and cultural ethnography is something i have been very interested in and i have done various case studies on the subject.

An important part of design research is observation and much of the data collected has been watching people interact with their surroundings in which the product is being used. I worked on a process of data coding various activities of workers installing bobbins at  a factory and video taped their work to understand repetitive actions and also process streamlining.