JP4965223B2 - Hand touch sensation evaluation apparatus and evaluation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an evaluation device and an evaluation method for a hand contact sensation for evaluating the usability of instruments such as handles, dryers, and shavers that are picked up and operated by a person.

In general, the usability (ease of use) of an instrument that is picked up and operated by a person is evaluated by a monitor test based on sensory evaluation.
JP 2004-65558 A JP 2003-281220 A

  However, when evaluating the usability of a device by a monitor test, it is necessary to produce a prototype of the device. Therefore, much labor and cost are required until the usability evaluation is completed. Also, it is impossible to quantitatively grasp the usability at the device design stage, and to design and manufacture the device.

  In addition, although the technique which estimates the comfort of a mattress based on the pressure distribution calculated from numerical analysis simulation is indicated by the said patent document 2, this technique is evaluated in the state where the person is not operating. Because it is a technology, it is impossible to evaluate the usability of a moving part such as a hand.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and its purpose is to evaluate the usability at the design stage of the instrument, and to reduce the labor and cost required for the usability evaluation. To provide an evaluation apparatus and an evaluation method.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a hand contact sensation evaluation apparatus and evaluation method according to the present invention is a hand model in which the shapes of finger joints, bones, and tendons forming a human hand are modeled by finite elements. A simulation model in which a human hand is manipulating the instrument is created from the instrument model in which the instrument operated by the human hand is modeled by a finite element, and the degree of freedom of the wrist position of the created simulation model is created. By setting the boundary conditions by completely constraining, setting the physical property values of each part of the simulation model, and executing the finite element analysis using the simulation model in which the boundary conditions and the physical property values are set , stress position between the instrument and the contact surface product of the human hand, the hand of the epidermis and dermis in operating the appliance, Mises equivalent stress or epidermal portion of the hand, Calculating the temperature at a certain warmth or cold sensation, and evaluating the usability of the device based on the results calculated.

  When the calculated physical quantity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is desirable to determine that the instrument is easy to use. In addition, as a hand model, it is desirable to model and store the shape of each of the bone part, subcutaneous tissue part, skin part, and nail part forming a human hand by a finite element, and to store physical property values of each part. In this case, the shapes of the finger joints and tendons forming the human hand may be modeled by finite elements and stored as a hand model.

According to the evaluation device and the evaluation method of the sense of touch of the hand according to the present invention, the human hand by finite element analysis of the instrument and the human hand in operating the instrument contact surface product, between the hands of the epidermis and dermis Predict the stress of the position, the equivalent stress of Mises, or the temperature of warm or cold sensation in the epidermis part of the hand and evaluate the usability of the instrument when the human hand operates the instrument based on the predicted result It is possible to evaluate the usability in the device design stage, and to reduce the labor and cost required for the usability evaluation.

  Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, a configuration and operation of an evaluation device for a touch feeling of a hand, which is an embodiment of the present invention, will be described in detail.

[Configuration of hand contact sensation evaluation device]
An evaluation device 1 which is an embodiment of the hand touch sensation of the present invention is configured by a general-purpose information processing device such as a personal computer or a workstation, and as shown in FIG. 1, a model storage unit 2, an appliance information storage unit 3 The finite element analysis unit 4 and the determination output unit 5 are provided as main components. The model storage unit 2 is configured by a known storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), and stores a hand model obtained by modeling a human hand with a finite element. More specifically, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the model storage unit 2 uses a finite element (rigid body) for the shapes of bones, subcutaneous tissues, dermis, epidermis, and nails forming a human hand. , Solid, shell, etc.) and memorize it as a hand model. The model storage unit 2 stores physical property values of each part of a human hand obtained based on a known elastic body simulation model. Note that the model storage unit 2 may model the shapes of finger joints, bones, and tendons that form a human hand using finite elements and store them as hand models. In this case, the bone can be modeled by a rigid element that does not deform, and the joint can model the same movement as an actual finger by constraining the degrees of freedom of the nodes of the rigid element.

  The appliance information storage unit 3 is configured by a known storage device such as a ROM, and stores an appliance model obtained by modeling an appliance that a human hand contacts with a finite element. The finite element analysis unit 4 is configured by a known arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and executes finite element analysis described later. The determination output unit 5 is configured by a known arithmetic device such as a CPU, and evaluates and determines the usability of the instrument from the result of the finite element analysis by the finite element analysis unit 4 according to a preset rule. The operations of the finite element analysis unit 4 and the determination output unit 5 are realized by an arithmetic device reading a computer program created in advance and executing the computer program.

  The hand touch sensation evaluation apparatus having the above-described configuration evaluates the usability of an instrument at the design stage of the instrument by executing the following finite element analysis process. Hereinafter, the operation of the evaluation device for the touch feeling of the hand when executing the finite element analysis process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[Finite element analysis processing]
The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts in response to the input of the three-dimensional CAD data of the instrument for evaluating usability, and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S1.

  In the process of step S <b> 1, the finite element analysis unit 4 creates an instrument model by dividing the input three-dimensional CAD data into finite elements, and stores the created instrument model in the instrument information storage unit 3. Thereby, the process of step S1 is completed and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S2.

  In the process of step S2, the finite element analysis unit 4 reads out the hand model and the instrument model from the model storage unit 2 and the instrument information storage unit 3, respectively, and brings the hand model into contact with the instrument model, for example, FIGS. A simulation model in which a human hand is operating the instrument as shown in (a) and (b) is generated. 4 shows a state in which the human finger 12 is operating the handle 11, and FIG. 5 shows a state in which the human finger 12 is operating the slide lid 13. 6A and 6B show a state in which the human hand 14 is operating the rod-like member 15 in consideration of the shapes of the finger joints, bones, and tendons that form the human hand. . Thereby, the process of step S2 is completed, and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S3.

  In the process of step S3, the finite element analysis unit 4 sets boundary conditions for the simulation model generated by the process of step S2. Specifically, the finite element analysis unit 4 completely restricts the degree of freedom of the wrist position (node) (fixes the displacement in the three-dimensional direction). Thereby, the process of step S3 is completed, and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S4.

  In the process of step S4, the finite element analysis unit 4 sets the physical property values of each part of the simulation model set by the process of step S2 with reference to the model storage unit 2 and the appliance information storage unit 3. Thereby, the process of step S4 is completed, and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S5.

  In the process of step S5, the finite element analysis unit 4 performs finite element analysis using a simulation model in which boundary conditions and physical property values are set. Calculate the contact area of the hand. At this time, instead of the contact area, the finite element analysis unit 4 calculates the pressure distribution of the human hand accompanying the operation of the instrument, the internal stress of the hand (for example, the stress at the position between the epidermis and the dermis of the hand, Mises Equivalent stress), muscle load on the hand, the amount of deformation of the hand, and the temperature of the hand surface (for example, the temperature in the sensation of warm and cold sensations in the epidermis of the hand). Thereby, the process of step S5 is completed, and the finite element analysis process proceeds to the process of step S6.

  In the process of step S6, the determination output unit 5 determines whether or not the contact area calculated by the process of step S5 is a predetermined value or more. If the contact area is greater than or equal to the predetermined value as a result of the determination, the determination output unit 5 determines that the use of the instrument when a human hand operates the instrument is acceptable as the process of step S7. End the element analysis process. On the other hand, if the contact area is not greater than or equal to the predetermined value, the determination output unit 5 determines that the user's hand is not user-friendly when the device is operated as a process in step S8, and then determines a series of finite elements. End the analysis process.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the evaluation apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the finite element analysis unit 4 performs the finite element analysis when the human hand operates the instrument and the human hand. A physical quantity of at least one of the contact area, pressure distribution, internal stress, muscle load, deformation amount, and surface temperature is predicted, and the determination output unit 5 is operated by a human hand based on the predicted physical quantity. Since the user-friendliness of the tool is evaluated, the user-friendliness can be evaluated at the tool design stage, and the labor and cost required for the usability evaluation can be reduced. In addition, it is possible to evaluate a moving part such as a hand.

  As mentioned above, although the embodiment to which the invention made by the present inventors was applied has been described, the present invention is not limited by the description and the drawings that form part of the disclosure of the present invention according to this embodiment. That is, it should be added that other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on the above embodiments are all included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the evaluation apparatus used as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the finite element type of each part of a hand model. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the finite element analysis process used as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the simulation model used for a finite element analysis process. It is a figure which shows the other example of the simulation model used for a finite element analysis process. It is a figure which shows the other example of the simulation model used for a finite element analysis process.

Explanation of symbols

1: Evaluation device 2: Model storage unit 3: Instrument information storage unit 4: Finite element analysis unit 5: Determination output unit

Claims (2)

A model storage unit that stores a hand model in which the shapes of finger joints, bones, and tendons forming a human hand are modeled by finite elements;
An appliance information storage unit for storing an appliance model obtained by modeling the appliance operated by the human hand with a finite element;
The hand model and the instrument model are read out from the model storage unit and the instrument information storage unit, respectively, and a simulation model in which a human hand is operating the instrument is created, and the degree of freedom of the wrist position of the created simulation model is set. By setting the boundary conditions by completely constraining, setting the physical property values of each part of the simulation model, and executing the finite element analysis using the simulation model in which the boundary conditions and the physical property values are set , calculates the contact surface product of the instrument and human hand in operating the appliance, stress position between the hands of the epidermis and dermis, Mises equivalent stress or temperature in warmth or cold sensation in the skin portion of the hand, said finite element analysis unit based on the finite element analysis unit results calculated by and a decision output unit for evaluating the usability of the instrument Evaluation apparatus of the sense of touch of the hand and butterflies. A method for evaluating a touch feeling of a hand using an information processing device,
Storing a hand model obtained by modeling the shape of each of the joints, bones, and tendons of a finger forming a human hand in a model storage unit ;
Storing an instrument model obtained by modeling an instrument operated by the human hand with a finite element in an instrument information storage unit ;
Reading each hand model及beauty fixtures model from the model storage unit and appliance information storage unit, to create a simulation model of the state where the human hand is operating the instrument, free position of the wrist of a simulation model created By setting the boundary condition by completely constraining the degree, setting the physical property value of each part of the simulation model, and executing the finite element analysis using the simulation model in which the boundary condition and the physical property value are set , instrument and the human hand contact surface product when a hand to operate the instrument, the stress position between the hands of the epidermis and dermis, Mises equivalent stress or temperature in warmth or cold sensation in the skin portion of the hand, A calculating step;
And evaluating the usability of the appliance based on the calculated result .

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