| Description: |
Design for all or “universal design” refers to ideas meant to produce products and environments usable by all, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialised design. A such approach involves to simultaneously take into account a broad- spectrum of users with different characteristics (physical, cognitive, morphological, etc.) during the product design, in order to reduce the exclusion of certain categories of persons (disabled persons, elderly, etc.). So, designers need to rely on tools and methodologies to integrate this human factor, throughout the design process (physical trials, numerical simulations, etc.). In recent years, virtual reality is increasingly used in industry to visualise, test, and virtually analyse a product under design. Indeed, virtual reality allows leading a person in a cognitive and sensory-motor activity, in an artificial world created digitally, and simulating some aspects of the real world.In this thesis, we focus on the use of virtual reality in the specific field of universal design. Through a methodological approach, we focus firstly on the modeling and the integration of anthropometric and behavioral characteristics of users, by the use of numerical mannequins and virtual reality interfaces. Then, we propose the development of a virtual reality platform, based on the use of a video game engine, in order to improve the modeling of specific anthropometric characteristics and deficiencies of users. Through an experimental study, we also present the application of this platform as an evaluation and collaborative design system. Finally, we specify the contributions of our work concerning the design of the product and its use, as well as the modeling of specific capacities, and their impact on the user's activity (adaptation strategies) ; La conception universelle est une démarche de conception de produits et d'environnements, dont l'usage est destiné à tous, dans la plus large mesure, sans besoin d'adaptation ou de conception spéciale. Une telle ... |