Over the last couple of years the US Army has been collecting anthropomorphic data on its Soldiers to improve models for clothing patterning and size tariffing for uniforms and other sized equipment as part of the ANSUR II program. This anthropomorphic data is also used by engineers who develop cockpits and crew stations on vehicles and aircraft. Anthropometry is the study of physical dimensions in people, including the measurement of human body characteristics such as heights, breadths, girths, and reaches.
Not only are Soldiers built differently now than they were when the currently used info was collected in 1988 from active-duty personnel, but Americans in general are bigger. Consequently, this time around the Army wanted to collect info on the from about 13,000 troops representing the total force including Reservists and Guardsmen.
They have been making the rounds to various installations and recently visited Camp Shelby where this video was taken. In addition to the 95 traditional body measurements taken, 3D whole body, head/face and foot scans were be collected as part of this $9.5 Million program.
Tags: Natick
This is very interesting – I have never been able to find anthropometric data on (Canadian) soldiers as a group separate from the rest of the population. I’m glad to see the US realizes that soldiers as a sample group will provide different data than the general population. The troops will benefit from this.
PS – The text of the article incorrectly use “anthropomorphic” several times as opposed to the correct term “anthropometric”.
Cheers
Hey Turret.
Check out http://www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/14w-14e/nr-sp/index-eng.asp?id=12739
We hope to conduct the Canadian Army portion of the 2012 CF Anthropometric Survey in Fall/Winter of this year. Keep your eyes open for a Maple Leaf and Army News feature this summer.
We need you Armoured guys to show up, so pass the word along.