Virtual environments applications and applied ergonomics

摘要

The usability of virtual environments has attracted considerable efforts from ergonomists. Work has included studies of the side or after effects of participation in a virtual environment (VE) as well as the appropriateness of the Virtual Realityhardware and software interfaces and the understanding of factors which determine participant performance. Equally important for applied ergonomics is to understand how best to specify, build, implement and evaluate virtual environment solutions toeveryday industrial, commercial, educational and medical problems. The potential value of ergonomics applied to virtual environments, and vice versa, are discussed. Two particular instances of VE development relevant to applied ergonomics aredescribed—structured development and evaluation of industrial training and participatory redesign of workplaces. This paper is one of a number of contributions to a special issue on ergonomics in the study and use of virtual environments.