| Abstract: | Structural measurements of the human body have for the most part been of little practical use as indicators of such functional body dimensions as arm reaches. These dimensions, which define the area around the body to which a person can reach given certain specified conditions and constraints are often critical for the design and layout of workspaces. However, they are relatively difficult and time-consuming to obtain, usually requiring specially constructed measuring systems for each differing design situation, as well as resurveys for each physically distinct population. An alternate approach, described here, investigates the interrelationships between these two classes of measurements with the aim of predicting functional reaches from structural body dimensions. In the present study traditional structural measurements and 117 functional arm reaches were obtained on 100 subjects. Correlations between the two types of measures are reported. Regression equations are presented which can predict functional arm reaches from two structural body dimensions on anthropometrically differing populations under a fixed set of workspace conditions. |
