CABIN ERGONOMICS STUDY

Drive Cabin development for an underground Hybrid Electric Mining Truck built from the ground up.

SYNOPSIS

COMPANY / CLIENT

First Mode

ROLE

Lead User Researcher

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Test integral user drive-cabin interactions with a wide range of user of different sizes & reach proportions in order to provide the hardware product team the necessary information to construct 3D CAD.

Due to the underlying drivetrain hardware, the steps are quite steep. Can user enter & exit easily?

1. ENTRY & EXIT

3D prints of main interface controls ranging from gear shift, e-brake, through to walkie-talkie were presented to user to customize placement.

2. CRITICAL INTERFACE PLACEMENT

3. DOOR HANDLE EXECUTION

Tertiary function, is the door handle position acceptable?

9 Users | 5 Females 4 Males | 20-80 percentile height | 20-80 percentile reach

PROCESS

ANALYSIS & INSIGHTS

  • Helper handle well executed.

  • While most people (60-70%) did not accidentally use seatbelt harness as leverage to climb in, the results inconclusive.

  • A couple of user suggested secondary helper handle on ceiling added ease.

  • Cab floor step geometry good

1. ENTRY & EXIT

  • Radio handset on SAME side as Gear Lever & Main input controls. Only 2 users are open to non-same sides. Perhaps influenced by simulation setup (in Utah) that both attended.

  • Dump lever under screen with visual feedback of dump status / angle

  • Inconclusive E-Stop position with leaning A-pillar mount.

2. CRITICAL INTERFACE PLACEMENT

  • While slightly awkward, it is acceptable.

  • Possible idea to move hinge forward by applying a 45° cut to door.

3. DOOR HANDLE EXECUTION

Below is the final interface control placement. We then loaded the interface placement into VR for Client Review:

Though there are existing human ergonomics charts, it is still critical to test out with real users in order to verify if there were any unforeseen issues.

The interface placement exercise ended up being the most rewarding. We encouraged the users to talk through their customized placement & observed them iterating the physical interface placement gave us great insight into:

  • Which controls were the most important?

  • How is that reflected with the access placement?

This removed any development biases from the designers and instead focused on direct user feedback.

RETROSPECTIVE

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PELOTON USABILITY STUDY