Improving processes and ergonomics at air freight handling agents: a case study

Diefenbach, Heiko; Erlemann, Nathalie; Lunin, A. F.; Grosse, E. H.; Schocke, Kai-Oliver; Glock, C. H.

doi:10.1080/13675567.2021.1958305

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The importance of ergonomics enhancement has recently gained further attention with the deployment of wearable interfaces and robotic technologies for Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) in industrial settings, and the concurrent need for reducing work-related musculoskeletal disorders in human workers [11]. In such environments, wearable haptic modality has emerged as a privileged solution to provide corrective postural feedback to the human operator [12], or to increase the reciprocal awareness of the human-robotic dyad [13], compared to audio deviceswhich are often unsuitable in noisy industrial scenarios -or visual displays, which still represent a widely used approach in working use-cases [14] -whose usage, however, could generate safety issues for the workers, who are requested to move their visual attention from the task to the display [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Cue Haptic Guidance Through Wearables for Enhancing Human Ergonomics

Fani¹,

Ciotti²,

Bianchi³

2022

IEEE Trans. Haptics

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Wearable haptic systems can be easily integrated with the human body and represent an effective solution for a natural and unobtrusive stimulus delivery. These characteristics can open interesting perspectives for different applications, such as haptic guidance for human ergonomics enhancement, e.g. during human-robot collaborative tasks in industrial scenarios, where the usage of the visual communication channel can be problematic. In this work, we propose a wearable multi-cue system that can be worn at the arm level on both the two upper limbs, which conveys both squeezing stimuli (provided by an armband haptic device) and vibration, to provide corrective feedback for posture balancing along the user's frontal and sagittal plane, respectively. We evaluated the effectiveness of our system in delivering directional information to control the user's center of pressure position on a balancing board. We compared the here proposed haptic guidance with visual guidance cues. Results show no statistically significant differences in terms of success rate and time for task completion for the two conditions. Furthermore, participants underwent through a Subjective Quantitative Evaluation and a NASA-TLX test, evaluating the wearable haptic system as intuitive and effective.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Cue Haptic Guidance Through Wearables for Enhancing Human Ergonomics

Fani¹,

Ciotti²,

Bianchi³

2022

IEEE Trans. Haptics

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“…For their structure and characteristics, the introduction of postural warning systems in industrial environments is not trivial: the use of visual displays is not always suitable since it can act as a distraction [10]. Meanwhile, the use of acoustic cues can be inefficient due to the noises present in the industrial settings [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Analysis of Vibrotactile and Slide-and-Squeeze Haptic Feedback Devices for Limbs Postural Adjustment

Lorenzini¹,

Ciotti²,

Gandarias³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Recurrent or sustained awkward body postures are among the most frequently cited risk factors to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).To prevent workers from adopting harmful configurations but also to guide them toward more ergonomic ones, wearable haptic devices may be the ideal solution. In this paper, a vibrotactile unit, called ErgoTac, and a slide-and-squeeze unit, called CUFF, were evaluated in a limbs postural correction setting. Their capability of providing single-joint (shoulder or knee) and multi-joint (shoulder and knee at once) guidance was compared in twelve healthy subjects, using quantitative task-related metrics and subjective quantitative evaluation. An integrated environment was also built to ease communication and data sharing between the involved sensor and feedback systems. Results show good acceptability and intuitiveness for both devices. ErgoTac appeared as the suitable feedback device for the shoulder, while the CUFF may be the effective solution for the knee. This comparative study, although preliminary, was propaedeutic to the potential integration of the two devices for effective whole-body postural corrections, with the aim to develop a feedback and assistive apparatus to increase workers' awareness about risky working conditions and therefore to prevent MSDs.

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