ABSTRACT
Ergonomic evaluation of a product oft en requires building up a physical mockup or a prototype, having a group of experts or a representative sample of users to test it and to give their discomfort feeling. Th is is an expensive and time-consuming process, especially when the product design has to be modifi ed and revalidated. Th anks to recent progress on motion capture, motion analysis, and motion modeling, simulating industrial application oriented complex motions is becoming possible (see, for instance, Monnier et al., 2003, 2006; Park et al., 2004; also Ausejo & Wang, 2009, and Monnier et al., 2009 in this handbook). However, the evaluation of the discomfort associated with such complex motions is another challenge for digital human modeling researchers. Two fundamental questions are posed:
How to measure the discomfort perceived by a subject, knowing that it is subjective and that there is no other measurement instrument than the subject himself?
