Jae Hee Park

40 Years of Ergonomics in Korea : Accomplishments, Challenges and 40 More Years Ahead

Hongik UniversityFor the commemoration of 40 years of Industrial Engineering in Korea, Ergonomics in Korea for the last 40 years are presented in this paper. Historical backgrounds, past achievements, and key historical landmarks are explained and analyzed. In addition, a keyword content analyses on the 1,005 titles from the research paper published from 1983 to 2014 are conducted to display the structural patterns of the changes of research focus of the ergonomics in Korea. Finally, some important perspectives with regard to the prospects for the future of ergonomics in Korea are also summarized.

Survey of Customer Satisfaction of Kimchi Refrigerators with Focus on Physical User Interfaces

Kimchi refrigerator is a specific refrigerator for Kimchi, Korean traditional fermented food. It has been fast popularized since it was developed about ten years ago. In this study, a survey was conducted with 103 female voluntary respondents to understand the customer satisfaction of the Kimchi refrigerator in the aspect of physical use. The respondents showed a high satisfaction for the use of refrigerators. It was, however, shown that they felt highly uncomfortable in using the refrigerator. In particular, the high discomfort was related to the fact that the customer should bend her torso very much to put Kimchi containers into the refrigerator, take them out of it, or clean its inside. Seventy-five percent of the respondents reported the experience of body-part pains and 58.4% of them reported pain experience in the back. It is presumed that these results are highly correlated to the top-cover design of the refrigerator, which is the most popular type to improve its performance of maintaining proper temperature. Therefore, the developers should consider these usability problems related to the refrigerator and try to enhance its usability by adopting ergonomics in the design stage.

A biomechanical analysis system to evaluate physical usability of Kimchi refrigerator

A biomechanical analysis system, consisting of measurement and analysis subsystems, were developed and applied in evaluating the physical usability of a kimchi refrigerator. In the system, 3D motion measurement system and force platform system were used in measuring joint positions, ground reaction forces and moments. The systems also includes 3 analysis modules: kinematic, kinetic, and 3DSSPP analyses. Kimchi refrigerator, which is very popular as a specific refrigerator for kimchi, a Korean traditional dish, was evaluated using the system. The refrigerator is designed as a top-cover that makes the users feel uncomfortable in using it, though most people think it is a very useful product. The result showed it is possible to evaluate the physical usability of the refrigerator using the system effectively and reliably.