Using an instrumented manikin for Space Station Freedom analysis

One of the most intriguing and complex areas of current computer graphics research is animating human figures to behave in a realistic manner. Believable, accurate human models are desirable for many everyday uses including industrial and architectural design, medical applications, and human factors evaluations. For zero-gravity (0-g) spacecraft design and mission planning scenarios, they are particularly valuable since 0-g conditions are difficult to simulate in a one-gravity Earth environment. At NASA/JSC, an in-house human modeling package called PLAID is currently being used to produce animations for human factors evaluation of Space Station Freedom design issues. Presented here is an introductory background discussion of problems encountered in existing techniques for animating human models and how an instrumented manikin can help improve the realism of these models.