Fit for washing; Human factors and ergonomic evaluations of washing machines

Abstract

People do the laundry all over the world. About 500 million washing machines are in use at the moment. To reduce the heavy workload, washing machines were invented about 100 years ago. 50 years of innovations led to a reduction in water, energy and detergent consumption and the interface became easier to use. However, the overall usage of the machine is still the same. After a first literature exploration of the subject it became clear that there is hardly any scientific research. Innovations are minimal as well. In fact, the design of washing machines looks almost the same as some 50 years ago - a white box with an opening height of 60 cm above the floor. The main reason for starting this study was that Siemens Household Appliances wanted to find out whether their consumers would appreciate an innovative washing concept and whether it was worth it to develop a new washing machine. As there seems to be a need for innovation, this thesis aims to answer the following questions: 1) Does the opening height influence movements and body postures while loading and unloading a washing machine? 2) Are body postures and anthropometric data, age or gender correlate? 3) Do physical stress or comfort problems occur? 4) Is there a relationship between comfort and typical body postures when un-/loading a washing machine? 5) Are there relationships between subjective comfort and anthropometric data, age or gender? 6) Based on these results, can a washing machine be innovated and would it be successful in other cultures as well? Answers to this questions you will find in this thesis.