UofI's virtual humans designed to test products

Learning how people will interact with yet-unbuilt equipment could save millions.

By ERIN JORDAN                                                                                  
Register Correspondent  

02/29/2004

Iowa City, Ia. - It used to take seven years for a John Deere tractor to go from the idea stage to production.

Researchers and manufacturers now see a day when they will use virtual humans - that look, walk and talk like real humans, but on a computer screen - to test yet-unbuilt equipment. This new technology, being developed at the University of Iowa, could save companies millions of dollars and months - or years - of research by accurately predicting how humans will interact with a product.

"The intent is that the first prototype is the final one built," said Tye Conlan, supervisor of the Dynamic Systems Modeling Group in the John Deere Construction and Forestry Division.

John Deere, appliance maker Maytag and furniture maker Hon Industries are among the companies watching the work of Karim Abdel-Malek, a U of I associate professor in mechanical engineering, who is leading a team of 34 researchers to develop the newest generation of virtual humans. These computer-generated beings with muscles that twitch and clothes that wrinkle will be ready to use by 2006, Abdel-Malek said.

The team is now working under a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop virtual soldiers that can test new equipment and protective clothing for the Army. The grant, awarded in October, could be worth as much as $17.5 million over the next five years. Abdel-Malek is looking for private partners who want to use the technology when it is complete.

The U of I's virtual humans look similar to video game characters but have something the others don't - posture and motion prediction.

Here's how it works:

Researchers plug human dimensions, such as height, weight and limb length, into a mathematical formula that determines what tasks a human can perform comfortably.

Software users can have the virtual human test new products, which also exist only on a computer, and have the virtual being tell operators through the mathematical equations whether certain actions cause pain, fatigue or stress on the body.

Other groups working on digital beings gather data from tests with real-life humans of different sizes, genders and ethnicities, said Abdel-Malek, 38.

"What's so different from anyone else is we are using mathematical models to predict postures," Abdel-Malek said. "Once we have a good solid equation, it works for everything."

So far, the performance of the U of I's digital humans has been very accurate, Abdel-Malek said.

Accuracy is crucial because companies want to reduce the time it takes to test products on consumers. They can only do that if the virtual humans are just like real people.

"We already use the digital human model for ergonomic demonstrations of our furniture," said Emad Tanbour, senior project manager at Hon Industries in Muscatine. The company, which is the second-largest manufacturer of office furniture in North America, uses virtual reality to show new furniture to focus groups.

John Deere's simulations show a yet-to-be-produced piece of equipment, such as a tractor, on a large wall. One customer puts on glasses that show an image of a tractor and "operates" the gear in a virtual world. Other customers can watch and make suggestions on how to improve the tractor before it is built, Conlan said.

Abdel-Malek started more than a decade ago making robots to help with tasks, such as handing doctors' instruments during surgery. As the computer gaming industry started to develop more realistic characters, Abdel-Malek had the idea to use the same technology to create biomedically correct digital humans that could test equipment in the virtual world.

The first virtual humans, named Ella and Tony after Abdel-Malek's children, were "born" two years ago.

The newest generation of virtual beings will work for the Army, testing equipment for Future Combat Systems, a program that would deploy lightweight, mobile equipment around the world in 36 hours, Abdel-Malek said. The virtual humans also will test how wearing nuclear, biological and chemical clothing will affect soldiers performing various tasks.

Abdel-Malek said the team eventually wants to put virtual humans in scenarios that could help the government train for terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

"I can see the end, and I can see a few steps ahead, but it is very challenging," Abdel-Malek said.