University of South Australia School of Health Science is using 'digital anthropometry' to customise the internal specifications of Navy submarines and ships, and to improve the design of uniforms and specialist clothing.
As part of the $1 million project, the team will carry out customised measurements such as eye spacing to help viewing through periscopes, head measurements for helmet fit, hand length to navigate controls, and the length from the knees to the buttocks to help with seating size.
The population is generally taller and wider than they were 30 years ago and lead researcher and senior lecturer Dr Grant Tomkinson says the data will inform decisions around working environments such as the height and width of doorways and the length and width of bunks in submarines.
“Submarines are built to last across many generations, 20 to 30 years or more,” Dr Tomkinson says.
“So while we have a piece of machinery that can last for many decades, the average sailor – just like the average person – is changing over time. People are now on average about an inch or so taller, and a bit wider, than they were 30 years ago.
“It is a way of surveying body size and shape for the Navy which will give them some good predictions on how they might change in the future, and then how their equipment and machines should look.”
Dr Tomkinson and colleague Dr Nathan Daniell are working with a team of postgraduate and undergraduate students to measure 1500 Navy personnel based in New South Wales and Western Australia.
“Our survey of body size and shape uses both traditional methods and a digital approach,” Dr Tomkinson says.
“We use a 3D whole-body scanner, which is like stepping into a large changing room and 15 seconds later we get a 3D image of your body that we can extract measurements from at a later stage.
“It captures about half a million data points on the surface of the body and then we can measure dimensions like waist circumference without needing the person again in the future.”
Dr Tomkinson says the team is contracted to take about 90 measurements of the body, including standard measurements like circumferences, heights, lengths and breadths of the arms, legs and torso.