Publicação
Smart vest for real-time postural biofeedback and ergonomic risk assessment
| Resumo: | Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are a serious worldwide health concern, that can result in the worker's permanent disability and an economic burden of up to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This paper presents the design and development of an innovative smart garment for real-time ergonomic risk assessment. It aims to empower operators with posture awareness and provide objective data to ergonomists. The system is based on inertial sensors and implements a biofeedback strategy that uses haptic stimulus to warn the user about hazard postures, enabling more ergonomic postures. To allow an easy data analysis, a graphical interface was developed in MATLAB. This framework was validated with 5 subjects, in a simulated scenario with 5 tasks that included a collaborative robot arm. The results showed that providing real-time biofeedback to the subject improves posture awareness, and has a significant impact on reducing the ergonomic risk, with reductions of up to 39.8% of the time spent in hazard postures. The wearable technology and developed methodologies are a promising tool to complement the ergonomist diagnoses of hazard tasks and workspaces and to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Cerqueira, Sara Maria Brito Araújo |
| Outros Autores: | Ferreira da Silva, Alexandre; Santos, Cristina |
| Assunto: | Biofeedback Ergonomic risk assessment Inertial measurement units Wearables design WRMSDs |
| Ano: | 2020 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso restrito |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are a serious worldwide health concern, that can result in the worker's permanent disability and an economic burden of up to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This paper presents the design and development of an innovative smart garment for real-time ergonomic risk assessment. It aims to empower operators with posture awareness and provide objective data to ergonomists. The system is based on inertial sensors and implements a biofeedback strategy that uses haptic stimulus to warn the user about hazard postures, enabling more ergonomic postures. To allow an easy data analysis, a graphical interface was developed in MATLAB. This framework was validated with 5 subjects, in a simulated scenario with 5 tasks that included a collaborative robot arm. The results showed that providing real-time biofeedback to the subject improves posture awareness, and has a significant impact on reducing the ergonomic risk, with reductions of up to 39.8% of the time spent in hazard postures. The wearable technology and developed methodologies are a promising tool to complement the ergonomist diagnoses of hazard tasks and workspaces and to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. |
|---|