Beyond Anthropometry and Biomechanics: Digital Human Models for Modeling Realistic Behaviors of Virtual Humans

Spatial layout of workplaces and geometric analysis of future products is a prominent application of Digital Human Models (DHMs). DHMs describe characteristics of body dimensions, body shape and motions of the future workers and users. Further applications of DHM are animated, computer-generated and photo-realistic figures for populating computer games and movies. In contrast to these applications, other areas of human modeling, e.g. human behavior modeling or cognitive modeling, have not been applied broadly. These models address different levels of human behavior, including human information processing. This paper presents several of these models and uses them as a basis for generating the idea of a comprehensive digital human model. Such a model is applicable for optimizing complex work processes as well as populating virtual environments. It is concluded that there will be no single solution for modeling and simulation all variations and aspects of human behavior, but that there is a need for a reference architecture as a generic interface between the different models.