Experiment#6
6.1:
Objective
To obtain anthropometric measurement of a sample population and perform statistical analysis of
the data.
6.2: Problem statement:
People come in all shapes and sizes, so you need to take these physical characteristics into
account whenever you design anything that someone will use, from something as simple as a
pencil to something as complex as a car.
6.3: Apparatus:
Inch measurement tape
Sample population (Human)
6.4: Procedure:
First of all measure the following dimensions of a boy.
Stature height in standing position
Elbow height in sitting position
Shoulder height in sitting position
Leg length in standing position
Shoulder width in sitting position
6.5: Theory:
Anthropometric is the branch of ergonomics that deals with body shape and size. While taking
anthropometric measurements, the following should be considered.
6.5.1: Decide who you are designing for:
Anthropometric tables give measurement of different body
parts for men and women, and split into different
nationalities, and age groups from baby to elderly. So first,
you need to know what exactly who you are designing for.
The group of people for you are you designing for is
called user population.
If you were designing for an office chair you need to
consider dimensions for adults of working age and not to
those for children or elderly. If you were designing a
product for the home, such as a kettle, your user group
should be everyone except young children.
6.5.2: Decide which body measurements are relevant:
You need to know which parts of body are relevant to your design. For example, if you were
designing a mobile phone, you should need the width and length of the hand, the size of finger
and grip diameter. You wouldn’t be too more interested in the height and the weight of the user.
6.5.3: Decide whether you are designing for “average” or extremes:
Nobody is average in all body dimensions. Someone might be say, of average height bit have a
longer than average hand length. This is also called design for maximum and minimum. The
variation in size and the shape of people also tell us that if you design to suit your self, it will be
suitable for the people of your sizes and shapes, and you might design out everyone else.
To design for relevant users, percentiles are used in ergonomics instead to percentages.
6.6: Percentile:
Percentile are shown in anthropometry in the tables and they tell you whether the measurements
given in the table relates to ‘average’ person, or someone who is blow or above the average in
certain dimensions. It is the value blow which is a given percentage of observations, in a group of
observation falls.
If you look at the heights of the group of the adults, you’ll be probably the most of them look
about the same height. A few maybe noticeable letter, and a few may be noticeable shorter. The
same height will be near the average and is shown in anthropometry tables fiftieth percentile,
often written as ‘50th%ile’. This mean it is the most likely height in a group of people. If we
plotted the graph of heights of your group of people.it would be like this.
First notice the graph is symmetrical -- so that the 50% of the people are of average, there is a
point is called 5th%ile, because the 5% of the people is shorter than this height. The same
distance to the right is a point known as 95th%ile, where only one person in 20 is taller than this
height.
So we also need to know whether we are designing for all potential user or just the ones of the
above or below the average dimensions. Now this depends on exactly what is that we are
designing.
For example, if we are designing a doorway using the height, shoulder width, hip width etc., of
an average person, then half the people using the doorway would be taller than the average and
half would be wider. Since the tallest people are not necessarily the widest, more than the half
user would have to bend down or turns the sideways to get through the doorway.
Therefore, in this case we need to design using dimensions of the widest and the tallest people to
ensure that everyone could through walk normally. Deciding to whether to use the 5th, 50thor
95th percentile value depends on what you are designing and who you are designing it for.
Usually, you will find that if you right percentile, 95% people use that design. For instance, if
you are choosing the door height you should choose the dimension of the people’s height (often
called stature in anthropometry tables) and pick the 95th Percentile value-in other word, you
would design for the taller people. You wouldn’t need to worry about the average height people,
or the 5th percentile ones-they would be able to fit through the door anyway.
At the other end of the scale, if you were designing an airplane cockpit, and needed to make sure
everyone could reach a control, you would choose 5 th percentile arm length- because the people
with the short arms are the ones who are most challenging to design for. If they could reach the
control, everyone else (with longer arms) would be able to.
Here are some examples of other situations-your design project will normally fit into one of
these groups:
What is it that you Design example. Examples of Users that your
are aiming for with measurements to design should
your consider. accommodate.
design?
Easy reach Vehicle Arm length, Smaller user:
dashboards, Shoulder height 5th
shelving percentile
Adequate clearance Manholes, Cinema Shoulder or Hip Larger user:
to avoid unwanted seats width, Thigh length 95th
contact percentile
or tapping
A good match Seats,Cycle helmets, Knee-floor height, Maximum range:
between the user and Pushchairs Head circumference, th th
5 to 95 percentile
the product weight
A comfortable and Lawnmowers, Elbow height, sitting Maximum range:
safe posture Monitor positions, eye height, Elbow 5th to 95th percentile
worksurface heights height while standing
Sometimes you can’t accommodate all your users because there are conflicting solutions to your
design. In this case, you will have to make a judgment about what is the most important feature.
You must never compromise safety though, and if there is a real risk of injury, you may have to
use more extreme percentile (1%ile or 99%ile or more) to make sure that everyone is protected
(not just 95% of the people).
6.7: Anthropometry:
6.7.1: Anthropometric Tools:
To obtain anthropometric measurements, a variety of specialized tools (as depicted below) are
used:
Stadiometers: height
Anthropometers: length and circumference of body segments
Bicondylar calipers: bone diameter
Skinfold calipers: skin thickness and subcutaneous fat
Scales: weight
Although the majority of the instruments appear straight forward to use, a high level of training
is required to achieve high validity and accuracy of measurements.
6.7.2: Current Applications of Anthropometry
While physical anthropologists and criminologists continue to use anthropometric measurements
in the study of human evolution through the comparison of novel fossil remains to archived
specimens and forensics, respectively, current applications have extended to:
Industrial design and architecture (e.g., vehicle seating and cockpits)
Clothing (e.g., military uniforms)
Ergonomics (e.g., seating)
Medicine (e.g., nutrition, aging, obesity, sports science, and diabetes)
In these industries, anthropometric data is invaluable to the optimization of various products and
observing the changes which occur in response to various lifestyle, genetic, and ethic factors.
6.8: Data collection:
Sr. No Stature height Elbow height Shoulder height Leg length in Shoulder
in standing in sitting in sitting standing width in
position (inch) position position (inch) position (inch) sitting
(inch) position
(inch)
1 5´8´´ 2´8´´ 3´7´´ 3´4´´ 1´5´´
2 5´8.5´´ 2´9´´ 3´6.5´´ 3´4´´ 1´6´´
3 5´7´´ 2´8´´ 3´7´´ 3´3´´ 1´5´´
4 5´9.5´´ 2´4´´ 3´4´´ 3´5´´ 1´5´´
5 5´8´´ 2´6´´ 3´5´´ 3´2´´ 1´6´´
6 6´1´´ 2´7´´ 3´8´´ 3´9´´ 1´5´´
7 5´8´´ 2´8´´ 3´7´´ 3´4´´ 1´5´´
8 5´9´´ 2´4´´ 3´5´´ 3´5´´ 1´7´´
9 5´10´´ 2´8´´ 3´4´´ 3´9´´ 1´6´´
10 6´0´´ 2´6´´ 3´7´´ 3´6´´ 1´7´´
11 5´8´´ 2´8´´ 3´2´´ 3´7´´ 1´6´´
12 5´8´´ 2´10´´ 3´6´´ 3´10´´ 1´8´´
13 5´7´´ 2´9´´ 3´3´´ 3´8´´ 1´6´´
14 5´11´´ 2´10´´ 3´4´´ 3´9´´ 1´7´´
15 5´9´´ 2´7´´ 3´4´´ 3´7´´ 1´6´´
16 5´2´´ 2´6´´ 3´6´´ 3´3´´ 1´4´´
17 5´3´´ 2´9´´ 3´8´´ 3´2´´ 1´6´´
18 5´2´´ 2´8´´ 3´6´´ 3´2´´ 1´4´´
19 5´5´´ 2´10´´ 3´6´´ 3´5´´ 1´6´´
Percentile Stature Shoulder Leg length Shoulder Elbow
height height (standing) width height in
(standing) (sitting) (sitting) sitting
position
5th 5´2´´ 3´2´´ 3´2´´ 1´4´´, 2´4´´
50th 5´8´´ 3´6´´ 3´5´´ 1´6´´ 2´8´´
95th 5´9.5´´. 3´8´´ 3´10´´ 1´8´´ 2´10´´
6.9: Comments and conclusion:
Anthropometric measurements in the field of ergonomics are obtained in a variety of positions,
including sitting, standing, lying down, as well as various derivatives of these poses (e.g., arms
stretched out, hands on a table, arms raised above the head, etc.). In addition, due to the high
degree of human variability by ethnicity and body composition, the use of multivariate statistics
is often applied to various anthropometric measurements for the creation of a data sheet.
6.10:References
Cape Town Metropole Paediatric Interest Group. (2009). Anthropometry
Guideline: Paediatrics. pp. 4-81.
Carter JEL and Heath BH. (1991). Somatotyping: Developments and
Applications. Cambridge University Press, New York.
García Ferrari M and Galeano D. (2016). Police, anthropometry, and
fingerprinting: transnational history of identi cation systems from Rio de la
Plata to Brazil. História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos.23.
Johnston FE. (1982). Relationships between body composition and
anthropometry. Human Biol.54(2):221-245.
Karwowski, W. (2001). International Encyclopedia of Ergonomics and Human
Factors Volume 3. Taylor and Francis: New York and London.
