19^th International CODATA Conference
Category: Multi-disciplinary Use

Overview of the World Engineering Anthropometry Resource Objectives

Kathleen M. Robinette (kathleen.robinette@wpafb.af.mil), Air Force Research Laboratory, USA
Lee Young Suk, Chonnam University, South Korea
Sandy Ressler, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA

Anthropometric data, the measure of human body size and shape, are collected and used by all types of organizations for many types of applications. These include universities, hospitals, health statistics departments, militaries, apparel companies, furniture manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, safety equipment companies, aerospace companies, and many other industries and organizations. Given the global nature of commerce most industries are interested in data from many countries, however, collecting this data is expensive. In addition, users of anthropometric information want to push a button to get answers to their application questions. However at this point even some of the simplest problems require an expert to intervene. It would benefit everyone if the data collected by different organizations could be quickly and easily shared in a manner that is understandable to a novice user. It is our intent to create a system, the World Engineering Anthropometry Resource (WEAR), which would include not just the latest 3D surface anthropometric data from all over the world, but also traditional anthropometric data, fit and accommodation information, analytic and software tools, and guidance or intelligent agents for using the information effectively. This paper summarizes some of the objectives and challenges for this endeavor. The WEAR project itself is a "virtual" project as the participants are not co-located. The challenges and partial solutions which range from web-based collaboration systems to simple phone calls will also be discussed along with lessons learned that are applicable to similar projects.