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

这个小企业技术转让第一阶段项目旨在为配送中心和汽车装配厂的工人创造外骨骼辅助设备。通过使用这些辅助设备，工人可以大大减少在操作零件和箱子时下背部椎骨的负荷。人类和机器之间的这种合作具有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伙伴，通用汽车公司和美国邮政服务。最终目标是减少职业安全与健康管理局认为的工作场所的背部受伤？这项研究的更广泛的影响是减少了工人？美国的赔偿保险成本，减少残疾津贴，提高工人的生产力，以及工人继续工作到老年的能力;总之，提高工人的生活质量。此外，这些新设备将打开一个全新的市场，这将在建立美国作为仿生学新兴领域的头号玩家方面发挥重要作用。对工人安全和美国生活质量的潜在影响是巨大而多样的。

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.