The application of additive manufacturing / 3D printing in ergonomic aspects of product design: A systematic review

Additive Manufacturing (AM) facilitates product personalization and iterative design, which makes it an ideal technology for ergonomic product development. In this study, a systematic review was conducted of the literature regarding the use of AM in ergonomic-product design, and methodological aspects of the studies were analyzed. A literature search was performed using the keywords “3D print*,” “additive manufacturing,” “ergonomic*” and “human factors”. Included were studies reporting the use of AM specifically in ergonomic design of products/prototypes including the detailing of an ergonomic testing methodology used for evaluation. Forty studies were identified pertaining to the fields of medicine, assistive technology, wearable technology, hand tools, testing devices and others. The most commonly used technology was fused deposition modeling with polylactic acid, but the overall preferred material was acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Various combinations of objective/subjective and qualitative/quantitative product evaluation methods were used. Based on the findings, recommendations were developed to facilitate the choice of most suitable AM technologies and materials for specific applications in ergonomics.