Pune will host India’s first Advanced Ergonomics and Human Factors Research Centre, a Rs 105-crore facility being established by the Automotive Research Association of India and COEP Technological University to develop design standards based on Indian body dimensions and usage conditions.
The centre will be located at COEP Tech’s Research and Innovation Park in Chikhali and will be spread across 38,000 square feet. According to an official notification from ARAI, its first phase is planned over the next two to three years and will focus on establishing and upgrading facilities for posture evaluation, seating comfort analysis, human biomechanics and field-of-vision assessment.
A second phase, expected to take another four to five years, will lead to the development of a full-scale Advanced Ergonomics and Human Factors Research Centre. The project will receive funding from industry stakeholders, government bodies and ministries, industry partners, corporate social responsibility initiatives and other institutions, the notification said.
The initiative addresses a gap in product testing and design, according to ARAI senior deputy director Rahul Mahajan. He said Indian users differ from European populations in body dimensions, proportions and other physical characteristics, meaning that ergonomics standards, comfort criteria and testing protocols based on European datasets may not accurately represent Indian users or operating conditions.
The implications extend beyond vehicle seats and workstations. The proposed centre is expected to support research and testing for automotive products, defence equipment, aerospace systems, railways, agricultural machinery, industrial equipment, consumer products, furniture, construction and built environments, and textiles.
Mahajan said the differences also involve how products are used in India, including driving patterns, road environments and climatic conditions. The proposed centre will therefore work towards creating Indian anthropometric databases, standards, design methods and validation protocols for products intended to be safer and more comfortable for local users.
For the built environment, the facility could provide a research base for examining how people interact with furniture, workstations, construction equipment and other spaces or products used in daily life. However, the project’s immediate scope and the specific standards it will eventually produce will depend on the research facilities developed during its two-phase implementation.
The announcement places Pune at the centre of an effort to link academic research, automotive testing and industrial design. ARAI and COEP Tech are jointly establishing the facility, while additional government, industry and institutional funding is expected to support its development. The first milestone is the creation and upgrading of the specialised testing facilities during the initial two-to-three-year phase.
