Virtual Environments (VE) have matured from pure research topics to industrial applications nowadays. They have become applicable within early digital stages of product design. Ergonomics affects simulation and VE in two different ways: On the one hand, VE serve as media and means in application domains like product design, training, tele-operation, entertainment, and education. On the other hand, VE is an ergonomics topic on its own. VE serve as advanced human-system interfaces and facilitate a natural/intuitive, interactive, and immersive human-system interaction. Relevant ergonomic issues address open questions in the areas of immersion, human-system interaction, presence, and simulator sickness. With regard to virtual prototyping and human-centered product design, Digital Human Models have become commonly used tools. They allow the evaluation of new product designs during early design stages by modeling anthropometry, body postures, movements, and expected discomfort in a VE. There are ongoing activities in realizing a more comprehensive human model by implementing performance, perceptual and cognitive models for representing human behavior as well.

If these topics are of relevance and you wish to help in promoting and contributing to the future, or you have any other questions, please contact me at Alexander@fgan.de.