We are shaping the future

KAI: AI-based assistant for interior development

KAI unites the leading and internationally operating German companies and research institutions in the field of vehicle interiors, ergonomics and artificial intelligence to support vehicle developers in their work to design the interior of tomorrow.

The market launch of highly automated driving changes the automobile with lasting effects. A central prerequisite for a commercially successful launch of highly automated driving is, in addition to its technical realisation, the creation of a high level of price acceptance and willingness to pay from a customer’s perspective. By transferring the responsibility of driving to the car new vehicle and interior concepts are demanded by transformed customer expectations. Even with current cars the interior design has a high significance as an important purchase criterion. By introducing highly automated driving functions and accordingly arising non driving related activities (NDRA) the interior is going to be an even stronger purchase criterion for customers in the future. This introduces additional requirements into the product development process (PDP) that even today is of high complexity. Accordingly, strategies to evaluate new interior concepts are needed.

Methods from the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have a potential to contribute positively by supporting the developers in their decision making in terms of a “next best action” (NBA) approach. In automotive research and development (R&D) AI methods are currently used to a small extent. However, they are most powerful tools especially for the development of disruptive vehicle interiors where they can boost both development efficiency and quality for user centred solutions.

The KAI project (AI-based assistant for interior development) is dedicated to the development of AI-tools that accompany the PDP and assist developers during the phases of requirements determination, design and evaluation for automotive interiors. KAI supports all parties involved in the PDP at several process stages and contributes to the objectification of requirements. The geometrical design is going to be accelerated by an automated design tool using parametric modelling. KAI is going to pre-evaluate interior concepts at an early stage regarding technical and human-centred evaluation criteria. All measures combined reduce the time needed for development while simultaneously increasing product quality. Accordingly, KAI is going to answer vital questions of novel user scenarios for future interiors. This lays the basis for customer relevant differentiating factors.

The joint research project KAI is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy within the framework of the program "Neue Fahrzeug- und Systemtechnologien".

DELFIN – Dynamic Evaluation of Vehicle Occupants

Digital product development in the automotive industry includes the implementation of ergonomic requirements. Digital manikins are used for the design and evaluation of the vehicle interior. During the development of many vehicle types, the ergonomic focus is also on the design of the entire cabin (e.g. vehicle ingress, operating procedures). Since the occupants interact dynamically with the vehicle, corresponding motion studies must be carried out to ensure that the ergonomics will provide safety and comfort. To date, these studies have been carried out on time-consuming and cost-intensive physical models of the cabin with test persons – so a digital solution is needed.

To acquire ergonomic information at an early stage, we require a technology that can predict movements and evaluate occupants on/in the vehicle model. The DELFIN project implements the technology for the simulation of vehicle occupant movements into the RAMSIS digital manikin. The movements of the occupants in a vehicle environment will be calculated automatically with the help of a library of measured movements. Users will then be able to interactively manipulate and assemble them.

The technology for movement prognosis and evaluation should become generally usable in vehicle development (e.g. cars, trucks, airplanes & agricultural and construction machinery) and validated in various truck & car applications during the life of the project.

The joint project DELFIN is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the ‘KMU-innovativ’ program. Launched on May 1, 2019, the program will run until April 30, 2022.

vLEAD: Resource-oriented and effective management models for digital project and team work

The vLead project targets the research, participatory development, practical testing and dissemination of concepts and instruments for the resource-oriented and effective management of digital project and team work. For SMEs in particular, these concepts and instruments are intended to promote innovation and performance, to improve the health of managers and employees and to support managers with the management and integration of employees. Human Solutions is working on the sub-project “Development of the vLEAD Innovation Process Tool to Support the Digital Management of Cross-Team Innovation Processes.”

The vLead research project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the context of the “Innovations for the Production, Services and Work of Tomorrow” program and the European Social Fund (ESF).

INSAA: Passenger simulation in automated automobiles

With the increasing development of automation in vehicles, a paradigm shift is currently taking place in interior design due to the changed role of the driver – relieved of the primary driving task for a large part of the time, he or she can turn to non-driving-related activities. New concepts for vehicle interiors are currently being developed, which entail new designs for human-machine interaction. Analogous to classical vehicle development, the digital ergonomic validation of these concepts is absolutely necessary for the efficiency of the development process – but this is currently not possible, since the underlying digital manikins are only optimized for the primary driving task in conventional vehicle concepts.

The INSAA project is aimed at expanding the capabilities of RAMSIS. Specifically: postures for various tasks in the automated vehicle will be calculated from which the movement into the driver’s posture will be simulated and evaluated with regard to the movement timeframe. In a test setup, the real occupant behaviour is measured in a contact-free procedure. Models for non-driving activities and transfer processes are created and integrated into the RAMSIS simulation environment. The solution approach will be validated and optimized using case studies from the industry.

The INSAA joint project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the “KMU-innovativ” (SME-innovative) program.

MOSIM: Modular simulation of realistic human movements for an end-to-end digital process chain

The MOSIM project is mainly aimed at enabling a holistic analysis of human movements by creating a modular simulation framework. In particular, interoperable concepts and approaches are to be developed that clearly reflect the realism of software for simulating human motion. At the same time, the effort involved in manual preparation and post-processing should be drastically reduced or automated by artificial intelligence and decision-making methods.

An approach like this increases the market potential of human simulation in several areas, and this is why MOSIM is tackling seven heterogeneous use cases to demonstrate the potential of the generic framework. The German consortium is planning to develop two independent demonstrators which will underscore the diverse usage possibilities of the generic approach.

The joint project MOSIM is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Virtual Aging: a simulation to address age-related performance changes in the virtual design of processes and products

The objective of this research project is the development of a software to simulate age-related ability changes and individual ability limitations. The software will be used in the virtual planning of manual work processes and for product design based on digital human models. The common goal of the project participants is to build software solutions that go far beyond the capabilities of existing tools. Virtual Aging is a collaborative effort of the Human Solutions GmbH, the imk automotive GmbH and the Chemnitz Technical University Institute for Industrial Engineering and Innovation Management. The project is by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, within the context of the “KMU-innovativ” (SME innovative).

UDASIM: a method for simulating a comprehensive discomfort sensation

UDASIM addresses the relevant individual factors of force, sitting pressure and posture. To simulate these individual factors, the commercial manikins CASIMIR, RAMSIS and ANYBODY are combined by means of a uniform data interface. The model for the comprehensive, multidimensional sense of discomfort is realized by means of an artificial neural network, which receives the calculated individual factors of the combined human models as input variables.

ARVIDA: the creation of a service-oriented reference architecture for virtual technologies (VT)

ARVIDA will be used for a number of different application scenarios. Within this framework, we will set up a process for motion simulation and evaluation based on measured movements for ergonomic applications in the commercial vehicle sector – and we will also implement the relevant tools. This process will be run and assessed in several specific application scenarios.

EBDIG-WFSV: knowledge transfer to the shipping industry

The “European Boat Design Innovation Group - Wind Farm Support Vessel” (EBDIG–WFSV) project is funded by the European Union. It involves the transfer of knowledge from the automotive to the shipping industry – and for the first time we’re making our CAD manikin RAMSIS “shipshape”. The research objects are ships that transport people to work on offshore wind farms.

SafeWatch: testing visual standards for the bus and truck industries

In the “SafeWatch” project, we intend to incorporate existing national and international visual standards into the development of vehicles in such a way that they can be tested digitally during the prototypical implementation of 3D vehicle models.

Belt4All: virtualizing seat belt routing

In the project “Belt4All”, we are developing new methods and procedures for the manufacturer-independent digital design of seat belt systems in the automotive industry. The basic idea is to simulate seat belt routings in a 3D environment, enabling them to be better evaluated. Belt anchorage models, test body models and vehicle ambient geometry are all taken into account.

ALLWISS: Working – Learning – LIFE in knowledge work ? Innovative ability in a modern working world.

Human Solutions is a practical partner in the ALLWISS project, which investigates the Work-Learn-Life-Balance as a contribution to the balance between flexibility requirements and stability needs in knowledge work. The lifelong learning and innovation research results are tested by us for practical suitability. ALLWISS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and by the European Social Fund (ESF) within the framework of the funding priority program, “Striking a Balance Between Flexibility and Stability in a Changing Working World.” www.allwiss.de