University hall furniture design based on anthropometry: An artificial neural network approach

Anthropometry is one of the most important parts of ergonomics. It is necessary to consider the anthropometric measurements as well as to follow the ergonomic guidelines in designing any furniture in which people perform their regular activities. The purpose of this research was to develop a methodology in designing ergonomic furniture used by the university hall students based on anthropometric measurements and using the artificial neural network (ANN). In this research two easy to measure anthropometric dimensions: 'stature' and 'weight' has been selected and ANN has been used to predict the other 35 difficult to measure linear anthropometric dimensions from the two easy-to-measure ones. A computer programme has been developed to get the ergonomic design of furniture using these anthropometric dimensions of that particular person. A mismatch analysis has also been made to determine the mismatches of furniture design resulting from this research in comparison to actual body dimensions of that particular person.