News and Events Archive

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• 2013
  • April 2013. AnthroTools 1.1 is now available. This latest update includes interface and performance enhancements. AnthroTools is a mobile web app that contains a suite of tools for Design for Human Variability, including a multivariate accommodation calculator, proportionality calculator, and NHANES database explorer. It will run on desktop browsers (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari) or on a web browser in iOS or Android.
• 2011
  • October 2011. Open Design Lab podcasts are now available on iTunes. In addition to mirroring audio-only versions of our YouTube videos, we plan to feature shorter commentaries on our research with a more frequent update schedule. Tune in to hear Open Lab authors give insight and background for their papers, learn about new topics in the field, and hear about our research in a less technical way. Subscribe to our channel to receive regular updates!
  • October 2011. "Who Owns Design" lecture series continues with Carnegie Mellon professor
    Jonathan Cagan, George Tallman and Florence Barrett Ladd Engineering Professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, will speak at 12 p.m. October 5 at Penn State's Stuckeman Family Building. His visit marks the second talk in the Penn State Department of Architecture "Who Owns Design?" Lecture Series.

  • August 2011. Author's Insights: Preference is now available on YouTube as part of a new video series called "Author's Insights" that will feature authors of Open Lab publications discussing their work. The videos will feature brief summaries and additional insights for the publications. In this video, Chris talks about his 2007 DETC and 2009 JMD papers, "Including preference in anthropometry-driven models for design."
  • February 2011. Episode 1: "Experiments" is now available on YouTube as part of a new video series on the fundamentals of designing for human variability. In addition to this series, the new Open Design Lab YouTube channel will feature Open Lab authors presenting select publications from our archives. Check back often for updates!
• 2010
  • September 2010. Designing for Human Variability is offered again for the Fall 2010 semester. Students learn the principles of how to incorporate an understanding of variability in human size, capability, and preference into the design of products and environments. It is a unique opportunity to explore material from engineering, statistics, biomechanics, disability and aging research, and business in the context of design problems.
  • June 2010. The Iron Lion Design Challenge III took place in June 2010. This year, students from 4 universities collaborated on 5 design projects in the weeklong event. Projects included a ridable hovercraft, self-propelled walker, and a next-generation audio experience. Read more from the College of Engineering.
• 2009
  • September 2009. SMART Scholarship Chris Garneau, an OPEN lab member, was awarded a SMART Scholarship for his Ph.D. research and will be working with the Army Research Lab as part of the scholarship. Learn more about the SMART program here.
  • May 2009. The Iron Lion Design Challenge II took place in May. In the second year of the Challenge, it grew to 13 students and many faculty and industry collaborators, who collaborated on a variety of design projects, including a universally-designed portable appliance and an improved gripper, among others.
  • March 2009. myAnthro - Basic is available in the Apple iTunes App Store. myAnthro is an iPhone app created by Dr. Parkinson for easily determining body dimensions derived from proportionality constants, a design tool employed in the Open Design Lab. Find more information by visiting Dr. Parkinson's myAnthro page.
  • January 2009. NSF Career Award Prof. Matt Parkinson received the National Science Foundation's award for early career development. His proposal, Foundations for Designing for Human Variability, will be funded from 2009-2014. This work will enable the improved design of products, tasks, and environments, making them more accessible, accommodating, and effective for populations that are increasingly diverse.
• 2008
  • August 2008. Predicting 5th and 95th percentile anthropometric segment lengths from population stature accepted for presentation at the 2008 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in New York City.
  • June 2008. The Iron Lion Design Challenge, a multidisciplinary design competition related to adaptive medical devices, took place on the University Park campus June 23-June 30, 2008.
  • June 2008. Optimal product sizing through human models and Extrapolation of anthropometric measures to new populations accepted for presentation at the SAE Digital Human Modeling Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, June 2008.

  • June 2008. Invited Presentation Prof. Parkinson gave an invited presentation, "Improving seat design through virtual assessments," at the Innovations in Automotive Seating Conference in Detroit, Michigan.

• 2007
  • September 2007. Including preference in anthropometry-driven models for design received the Design Automation Committee's best paper award at the 2007 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Las Vegas, NV. The award was sponsored by Ford. Chris Garneau and Prof. Matt Parkinson were the co- authors.
  • September 2007. Research on Allocation of Adjustability will be funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This is an important aspect of Designing for Human Variability. Prof. Parkinson is the principal investigator on the proposal.
  • August 2007. Designing for Human Variability will be offered again in Fall 2007. This graduate-level course will be cross-listed in Engineering Design and Mechanical Engineering.
  • June 2007. Considering installer and occupant variability in FMVSS202a compliance was presented at the Innovations in Automotive Seating event in Dearborn, MI.
  • June 2007. Standing reach envelopes incorporating variance and postural cost presented at SAE Digital Human Modeling for Design and Engineering Conference in Seattle, Washington.
  • May 2007. Chris Garneau, a member of the Open Design Lab, received the John P. Karidis Department Head's Award for Research Achievement in Mechanical Engineering (at PSU). The award recognized the research he conducted with Prof. Parkinson while completing his honors thesis, A Comparison of Methodologies for Designing for Human Variability.
  • April 2007. Including preference in anthropometry-driven models for design accepted for presentation at ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • January 2007. Optimizing truck cab layout for driver accommodation accepted for publication in the November 2007 issu of ASME's Journal of Mechanical Design.
• 2006
  • September 2006. Improved head restraint design for safety and compliance presented at the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences in September of 2006.
  • August 2006. The design of compliant bistable micromechanisms granted U.S. Patent #7075209.
  • April 2006. Optimizing vehicle occupant packaging presented at the SAE World Congress and Exposition.
  • March 2006. Considering driver balance capability in truck shifter design accepted for presentation at the SAE Digital Human Modeling for Design and Engineering Conference in July of 2006.
  • January 2006. Center of pressure excursion capability in performance of seated lateral-reaching tasks published in Clinical Biomechanics.
• 2005
  • December 2005. Optimizing vehicle occupant packaging accepted for presentation at the SAE Congress in March of 2006.
  • September 2005. Robust truck cabin layout optimizationg using advanced driver variance models presented at the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences in Long Beach, CA.
  • September 2005. Improving an ergonomics testing procedure via approximation-based adaptive experimental design published in ASME's Journal of Mechanical Design.
  • June 2005. Assessing the validity of kinematically generated reach envelopes for simulations of vehicle operators presented SAE's Arch T. Colwell Merit Award for best paper of the year.