Research towards a methodology which helps designers/engineers in conceptualizing, facilitating participatory Design and validating products during designing and development process becoming more important with the aim of reducing the lengthy process and errors that crops up during the process. In this kind of situation it is felt that Virtual Reality-Haptic is among the solutions to cater repeated physical prototyping as well as for rapid prototyping and reduces related cost. This integrated system of virtual reality-Haptic feedback interaction may enhance the usability evaluation of virtual products. Therefore, emphasis of this paper is to study the virtual and augmented reality, Haptics working principles and their advantage towards product evaluation. Through this study it was possible to understand the working principles of Haptic device and write codes/program using OpenHaptics Software development Toolkit in order to manipulate the virtual object which was prepared through CAD Software (in this research CATIA was used), thereafter, experimental setup with full system were established. After preparing questionnaires and virtual reality-haptic system, participants were allowed to manipulate the virtual object via phantom Omni haptic feedback device and compare the physical properties of different virtual objects. Finally collected data were analyzed and drawn a result that revealed the potential of Virtual Reality-Haptic system for realizing the virtual objects surface texture, size, shape, and weight.

Digital human modeling (DHM), a technique of simulating human interaction with the product or workplace in a virtual environment is gaining popularity. This virtual evaluation process is useful in developing user-centered products by incorporating human factor principles at an early design phase, which reduces the design time and improves quality. Application of DHM has gained attention in the design process of the manufacturing industry, agriculture, healthcare sectors, transportation and aviation sectors, etc. However, the use of DHM for designing ergonomic products and work environment for the specially-abled and elderly is quite limited. This, otherwise, is more important as their real-life participation in experiments pertaining to the ergonomic evaluation of any product, workplace or public facility may cause discomfort to them. Moreover, improved products or workplace reduces their dependence on others and enables active involvement in work, communication, and social life. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this paper to explore the state of the art literature review on the applications of DHM based virtual ergonomic approaches to improve products and workplaces designs for specially-abled/elderly. The paper also proposes a way forward to continue research and developmental activities towards the betterment of the quality of life of the elderly and specially-abled persons through proactive and inclusive design strategies.

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