Human Engineering Laboratory
The Human Engineering Laboratory was a research institution under the U.S. Army Materiel Command that specialized in human performance research, human factors engineering, robotics, and human-in-the-loop technology. Located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, HEL acted as the Army’s lead laboratory for human factors and ergonomics research from 1951 to 1992. Researchers at HEL investigated methods to maximize combat effectiveness, improve weapons and equipment designs, and reduce operation costs and errors. In 1992, HEL was disestablished, and its mission, personnel, and facilities were incorporated into the newly created U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
History
In 1951, Major General Elbert Louis Ford, the Chief of Ordnance for the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, wrote a letter to Major General Edward MacMorland, the Commanding General at Aberdeen Proving Ground, about the Army’s need for more advanced human factors research. It stated, "It appears timely to provide human engineering assessments in our development engineering designs and in our tests of these designs. Therefore, it is proposed that certain human engineering services be included in the activities at Aberdeen Proving Ground."In December 1951, the Ordnance Corps established the Human Engineering Group at Aberdeen Proving Ground following studies and surveys that recommended a more concrete, systematized effort of integrating human factors in weapons and equipment design. The group initially consisted of seven people and was led by its first director, Dr. Ben Ami Blau, who slowly increased the work force to around 40 military and civilian personnel. In 1953, the group’s name was officially changed to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Human Engineering Laboratories. In February 1957, Dr. John D. Weisz succeeded Blau as director and served in this position for over 35 years until his retirement in 1992. By that point, the organization amassed a total of 257 military and civilian employees and gained international recognition for its research in the field of human factors.
During Weisz’s tenure as director, the laboratory underwent several organizational changes. When the Army reorganization took effect in 1962, HEL became a corporate laboratory within the newly established U.S. Army Materiel Command and became responsible for coordinating all of the Army’s human factors engineering initiatives. As a part of this reorganization, the laboratory’s name changed from the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Human Engineering Laboratories to the U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratories and later to the U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, HEL provided several project offices at Redstone Arsenal with human factors engineering support during the development of various missile systems, such as the Hawk, Jupiter, Pershing, Saturn, and Patriot systems. However, the process of developing military specifications and standards with the U.S. Army Missile Command revealed severe deficiencies in HEL’s knowledge of human performance, largely due to insufficient equipment and funding. Examples of data voids included the effects of acoustical energy on operator health and performance as well as knowledge on the symbolic representation of information on displays. In response, HEL identified the areas that required in-depth research and initiated experiments to specifically fill those data voids. These improvements eventually enabled the laboratory to develop the first simulation of the operating consoles for the Patriot system as well as apply human factors engineering to its design.
In 1968, the Army consolidated HEL, the Ballistic Research Laboratory, the Coating and Chemical Laboratory, the Nuclear Defense Laboratory, and the Army Materiel Systems Analysis Agency to create the Aberdeen Research and Development Center, which was officially established in 1969. In this new organizational structure, each of the five laboratories was managed by a civilian technical director who reported directly to a common commanding officer. However, the Center lasted only until 1972, and HEL quickly returned to being a corporate laboratory under AMC.
In 1975, AMC approved a pilot program that converted the human engineering groups at its Major Subordinate Commands into HEL detachments. HEL also gained field office representatives at major centers and schools in the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. When AMC established the U.S. Army Laboratory Command in 1985, HEL was one of the laboratories that became incorporated under the new Major Subordinate Command. Other elements that were realigned under LABCOM included the Ballistic Research Laboratory, the Harry Diamond Laboratories, the Materials Technology Laboratory, the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory, the Vulnerability Assessment Laboratory, the Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory, and the Army Research Office.
During the 1980s, HEL focused much of its resources on the Army's Manpower and Personnel Integration initiative. As the lead AMC agency for human factors engineering in MANPRINT, HEL developed new policies and tools to address issues related to systems safety, manpower, training, and health hazards in material development programs.
HEL was consolidated with the other AMC corporate research laboratories to form ARL in 1992. Its operations were merged with the MANPRINT functions of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences to create ARL’s Human Research and Engineering Directorate.
Research
The Human Engineering Laboratory was responsible for providing the Army with human factors engineering support in the design of combat vehicles, aviation, artillery air defense, weapons, equipment, and more. Human factors engineering places more support in considering the needs and convenience of the operator early in the design phase of weapons and equipment in order to reduce training time, labor, and human error. Researchers at HEL and its field offices conducted human performance tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground or other military installations and later work with material developers and contractors in the material acquisition process to apply their findings in material design. For these human performance tests, researchers brought in non-commissioned officers from the Army’s major military specialties as well as regular combat troops and soldiers who completed basic training to help evaluate how an equipment would fare in a battlefield environment.HEL’s research covered areas such as the following: acoustics research, communications-electronics, fire support control, forward area supply and transfer, human visual aspects, learning and memory, logistics systems, military operations on urbanized terrain, physiological and gender factors, robotics, selective attention, stress research, systems integration, target acquisition, test bed vehicle development, text and graphic displays, visual performance, and visual search.
HEL initially had three directorates to govern its research and responsibilities. The Behavioral Research Directorate managed basic human factors research that studied systems from a soldier’s point of view. Researchers focused on factors such as vision, hearing, endurance, stress, strength, height, and weight, and recorded their findings in a large data bank that other Defense agencies could access. The Systems Performance and Concepts Directorate maintained research teams that performed tests on various weapons and equipment. Considering everything from noise levels produced by a gun to the ease with which an operator could reach a vehicle’s brake pedal, researchers in this directorate evaluated the man–machine interface for gaps in safety and efficiency. Finally, the Human Engineering Applications Directorate worked directly with military installations to ensure that all projects took human factors engineering into account during the design process. In addition to aiding the design and development of military technologies, HEL researchers also conducted troubleshooting to identify human engineering problems whenever soldiers in the field reported issues with operating or maintaining a piece of equipment.
By the late 1980s, HEL was reorganized and divided into six technical divisions: Aviation and Air Defense, Behavioral Research, Close Combat-Light and Heavy, Combat Service Support, Fire Support and Target Acquisition, and Field Support.