1. introduction

72 Pages·2012·3.75 MB·English

1. INTRODUCTION:
To conceptualize and design playground equipments for children using CAD software
(CATIA) and their subsequent ergonomic evaluation using digital human modeling (DHM)
under the supervision of Dr. SOUGATA KARMAKAR ( Assistant Professor, Department of
Design, IIT Guwahati) as a summer project post 4th semester.

1.1 ABOUT IIT GUWAHATI

The campus of IIT GUWAHATI is on the northern banks of Brahmaputra and about the
North Guwahati town of Amingaon.
The campus is on a 700 acres (2.8 km2) plot of land around 20 km from the heart of the city.
It has the majestic Brahmaputra on one side and hills and vast open spaces on others.

1.2. ABOUT DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN

The Department of Design (DOD), one of the eleven departments at IIT Guwahati, was set up
with a vision to enkindle some of the brightest technical minds of the country a passion for
innovation technology driven by a firm understanding, appreciation and celebration of
design.
The department envisions producing successful graduates who will be capable of leading the
changing scenarios of today and tomorrow through thought, innovation and values.

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Fig 1: Instruments in ergonomics lab, IITG

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1.3. BACKGROUND

Playgrounds have an important role in the modern child‟s world. They encourage physical,
social, emotional, mental and creative play in children (Sheridan, 1999). Through the use of
the playground equipment the child is assisted to develop spatial and visual perception.
According to Heseltine and Holborn (1987), traditional type of play structures are especially
useful for physical development
The traditional designs are becoming a lacklustre.
Another aspect of changing life styles which affect the quality of play is clarified by Brown
and his colleagues, “children are more obese than ever, and already studies have shown that
these children are less likely to engage with play equipment.” (Brown et. al., 2001).
According to Perry, the primary inhibitor of play for children is television. It is the passive
and uncreative way of spending time. It directly prevents children from social interactions,
abstract thinking, creativity and play.
Similarly Hughes underlined the effect of television on children‟s play. He stated that,
children who spend most of their time in front of television play less imaginatively than
others. These children are rarely participating in a variety of activities that are more
intellectually stimulating. Hughes determined the five essential characteristics of play as,
intrinsically motivated, freely chosen, pleasurable, nonliterate, and actively engaged in by the
participants (Hughes, 1995).
Such standardized equipment quickly become popular because it allowed more children to
play in a smaller place and because it could be easily ordered from a catalogue by a local
school board that did not want to pay for a designer or that did not wish to explore more
creative forms of play. The desire was often for inexpensive, easily maintained apparatus that
could be used by the children without much supervision. (Eriksen, 1985)
Theme parks are now gaining popularity.
Such a situation calls for the development of some X-factor that will help the play parks
redeem their slot in the time table of a child.

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1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
o To propose new design concepts for traditional playground equipments by
considering all safety factors through the study of ergonomics.
o The new design should enhance the appeal of the product.
o The designs are to be made for the age group of 6 to 10 years.
o To evaluate the model in virtual environment by "digital human modeling"
software like Delmia, Jack etc.
o To fabricate the mockup of the proposed model.

1.5 PROBLEM STATEMENT:
The 21st century is witnessing a rapid fall in the interest of the children towards
playgrounds; with electronic gadgets becoming their priority. These gadgets offer
complete fun without any risk of injury but deprive them of physical exercise. This results
in the loss of agility. Obesity is on the rise among the children. The addiction to television
and computer games furthermore hampers the social growth of the kids because the
children no longer get an opportunity to interact with the other children like they used to
do a decade ago. Schools do provide a chance for interaction but in the meanwhile also
impose some restriction on their freedom. Play parks provide them with a chance to
interact with complete freedom (which is very essential for their social growth). The
urgency of the situation calls for the development of some remedies that can pull back the
children to the parks, a place which used to be the favorite of any random kid a decade

ago.

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2. REVIEW LITERATURE

2.1 PLAYGROUND AND PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENTS:
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children to be able to play
there. It provides a safe environment designed specifically to foster and enhance the
opportunities for a child to play alone, with a caregiver, or with other children. It may be
indoors but is typically outdoors. Playgrounds equipments such as the see-saw, merry-go-
round, slides etc. help children develop physical coordination, strength, and flexibility, as
well as providing recreation and enjoyment. Playgrounds often also have facilities for playing
informal games of adult sports, such as a baseball diamond, a skating arena, a basketball
court, or a tether ball.
Public playground equipment refers to equipment intended for use in the play areas of parks,
schools, child care facilities, institutions, multiple family dwellings, restaurants, resorts, and
recreational developments, and other areas of public use.
SOME COMMON PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENTS:
o Merry go round
o See saw
o Slides

 MERRY GO ROUND (ROUND-A-ABOUT):
Merry go round are the most common rotating equipments found in playground. Children
usually sit on the platform while other children push the merry go round to make it rotate.

Fig 2. Traditional merry go round

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 SEE-SAW
The typical see saw consists of a board or pole with a seat at each end supported at the centre
by a fulcrum. Because of the complex way children are required to cooperate and combine
their actions fulcrum see-saw is not recommended for toddlers or pre-school children.

Fig 3. Traditional see-saw
 SLIDE
Slides are popular play structures as they attract many children at varying ages. According to
Heseltine and Holborn, slides are the most common and useful play equipment on a
playground. Nevertheless, their selection and location on a playground is important in order
to prevent playground
injuries.

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Fig 4. Traditional slide

2.2 Ergonomics

Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary field of study that seeks to design systems in which people
play a significant role such that the interrelationship between the human and the system is
optimized. A system could be a simple hand tool, a complex product such as an automobile,
or an organization‟s workplace including the associated tasks that are performed. Its purpose
is to improve the performance of systems by improving human machine interaction. Systems
can be improved by
• Designing the user-interface to make it more compatible with the task and the user. This
makes it easier to use and more resistant to errors that people are known to make.
• Changing the work environment to make it safer and more appropriate for thetas.
• Changing the task to make it more compatible with user characteristics.
• Changing the way work is organized to accommodate people‟s psychological and social
needs.

ERGONOMICS AND ITS AREAS OF APPLICATION IN THE WORK SYSTEM

One of the problems facing the ergonomist both in the design of new work systems and in the
evaluation of existing ones is to ensure that all aspects are considered in a systematic way.
The human–machine approach enables key areas to be identified irrespective of the particular
system so that ergonomics can be applied consistently in different systems. The first step is to
describe the work system and its boundaries. This enables the content and scope of the
application of ergonomics to be specified. Next, the human and machine components and the
local environment are defined and described in terms of their main components. Following
this, the interactions between the various components can be analyzed to identify the points
of application of basic knowledge to the design/evaluation process. Examples of interactions
are the interaction between the displays and the workspace – this directs attention to the
positioning of the displays in the workspace so that the operator can see them when working.
The interaction between the effectors and the workspace introduces considerations about the
space requirements for body movements required by the task.

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2.3 ANTHROPOMETRY

Anthropometry is an empirical science that attempts to define reliable physical measures of a
person‟s size, mass, form and inertial properties for anthropological comparison. Engineering
anthropometry stresses the application of these measurements in developing and evaluating
engineering designs and mock-ups to assure that reach, clearance, and visibility requirements
are met in various strata of the population. Anthropometric measurements are typically done
with a person standing, sitting, laying face up or down. For functional anthropometry,
measurements are dependent on stated or implied assumptions. Anthropometric data are used
in ergonomics to specify the physical dimensions of workspaces, equipment, furniture and
clothing to ensure that physical mismatches between the dimensions of equipment and
products and the corresponding user dimensions are avoided.

Statistical treatment of anthropometric data

Designing for a single person demands his dimensional variations to be well accommodated.
When designing for mass use & for unknown individuals, one of the most relevant statistical
interpretations & considerations is the percentile value of the collected data taken from a
specific population group.
Percentiles
Percentiles are the statistical values of a distribution of variables transferred into a hundred
scale. Percentile values of anthropometric data can either be calculated from cumulative
frequency graphs or arithmetically.

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Anthropometric variables:
As per design application, the static anthropometry assists us to concept generation, and the
dynamic anthropometric considerations are necessary to accommodate the movement and
activity to give a final shape to the design. For human body dimension compatible design
practice anthropometric data should be collected from the intended users group

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