Wikipedia defines ergonomics as "the application of psychological and physiological principles to the (engineering and) design of products, processes and systems" - in other words, optimizing machinery to suit the operator’s anatomy and motor and sensory skills. Taking human factors into account in this way is an indispensable part of 21st-century design processes, leading to better products and shorter, more cost-effective development cycles. To more efficiently optimize machine ergonomics, including automobiles, fleXstructures GmbH has developed the IPS IMMA software tool, which the company is premiering at HANNOVER MESSE 2018.

The IPS IMMA biomechanical model contains 82 bone segments with a total of 162 degrees of freedom to realistically represent the movements of the human body. All kinds of anthropometric differences can be incorporated into one and the same structure and directly validated and visualized in a single analysis diagram, thus requiring no additional effort than for simulating a single manikin. By ensuring the IMMA manikin avoids extreme joint angles and any collisions with objects or other parts of its own body and maintains a stable position, cumbersome situations can be eliminated early on when compiling assembly instructions. What’s more, the assembly movements are also directly modified to accommodate any changes to the environment.

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