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Avatars and Eye Tracking: Ford Uses Technology to Improve Safety

Ford Motor Company has been using eye tracking and virtual reality to improve safety in motor vehicles. In an article recently published at AskPatty.com, a website specializing in automotive advice for women, Ford is said to be working with several high-tech labs, taking advantage of virtual reality to help reduce injuries, costs, and strict timelines and eye tracking to detect and prevent drowsy driving.

Ford has created two avatars of different sizes, known as “Jack” and “Jill.” Jack is roughly 6’2” and Jill about 5 feet tall, and the two of them are able to help the Assembly Ergonomics team at Ford to assess vehicle parts and predict potential assembly-line injuries for workers on the job. The models ensure that operators can safely and successfully install car parts within their physical limitations.

The avatars are created when a Ford employee from the virtual reality team dons a pair of special goggles with which he can virtually see a manufacturing scenario, such as installing a hose, and then physically reproduce the actions involved in installing the part. A set of overhead cameras detects 52 motion sensors attached to the volunteer, transmitting the information to software which then creates the avatars.

When the Assembly Ergonomics team finds a potential injury risk, they can work with the design engineering team to solve it. For example, the refrigerator in the Ford Flex is extremely heavy, and needs to be placed right in the middle of the car, so the team created a “happy seat” that lets an operator ride on an arm through the car door to install the refrigerator, saving them from twisting and turning and potential back injuries. With the help of Jack and Jill, Ford says they have a 90% reduction in issues related to assembly ergonomics.

Ford is also doing tests to study drowsy driving, for which it asked subjects to stay awake for 24 hours straight and then conduct a 3-hour simulated nighttime drive. The participants were equipped with eye tracking devices that monitored their blinks and for how long their eyes closed, and the study resulted in Ford’s Collision Warning with Brake Support.
The drive simulator is quite effective, and some study participants report that they forget their not really driving. Apparently, middle-aged women tend to fare better on the driving tests, attributing their success to having kids. Tired younger males were usually the first to fall asleep in the tests.

Ford Uses Virtual Reality to Improve Safety, Design

Avatars and Eye Tracking: Ford Uses Technology to Improve Safety

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