STTR Phase I: Lower Extremity Exoskeleton Assist Device for Reducing the Risk of Back Injuries among Workers

这个小型企业技术转移第一阶段项目旨在为配送中心和汽车组装厂的工人创造外骨骼辅助设备。通过使用这些辅助设备，工人在操作部件和箱子时可以极大地减少下背部脊椎的负荷。人与机器之间的这种协作得益于人类的智力优势和机器的力量优势。拟议的项目涉及加州大学伯克利分校作为研究合作伙伴，通用汽车公司和美国邮政服务公司。最终目标是减少被OSHA视为全国头号工作场所安全问题的工作场所背部损伤。这项研究的更广泛影响是降低了工人S的补偿保险成本，减少了伤残赔偿，提高了工人的生产率，以及工人继续工作到老年的能力；简而言之，提高了工人的生活质量。此外，这些新设备将打开一个全新的市场，这将在确立美国作为新兴仿生学领域头号玩家的过程中发挥重要作用。对工人安全和美国人生活质量的潜在影响是巨大和多样的。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project seeks to create exoskeleton assist devices for workers in distribution centers and automobile assembly plants. By using these assistive devices, workers can dramatically reduce the load in the vertebrae of the lower back when maneuvering parts and boxes. Such collaboration between humans and machines has the benefit of the intellectual advantage of humans coupled with the strength advantage of machines. The proposed project involves the University of California at Berkeley as research partner, General Motors Corporation, and the U.S. Postal Service. The end goal is a reduction in back injuries in the workplace which are considered by OSHA the nation?s number one workplace safety problem.The broader impacts of this research are reduced worker?s compensation insurance costs, reduced disability payments, increased worker productivity, and the ability for workers to keep working into their older years; in short, improve worker quality of life. Furthermore, these new devices will open an entirely new market which will serve an important role in establishing the United States as the number one player in the emerging field of bionics. The potential impacts to worker safety and American quality of life are large and diverse.