The final report for the Seated Soldier Study conducted by UMTRI for the US Army TARDEC is now available. The report describes the methods and results from detailed measurements of 315 soldiers at three Army posts.
A detailed posture analysis was conducted for both driver and squad seating conditions. Posture-prediction models based on UMTRI's Cascade methodology are presented for both environments. The models take into account the effects of body armor and body borne gear. Whole-body laser scanning was conducted to characterize body shape with and without PPE and gear. Analysis of this rich dataset will be underway for some time. Already, we are working on accommodation models for driver and squad condition, new vehicle packaging paradigms, and methods for optimizing seat design based on these findings and data. Three-dimensional body shape modeling using a subset of data from the Seated Soldier Study was used to develop anthropometric specifications for the midsize-male WIAMan ATD. If you have additional ideas on how these data could be used to improve the design of vehicles, seats, and protective equipment for soldiers, please contact me.
