Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Appl Ergon. 2021 Sep;95:103455. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103455. Epub 2021 May 12.
Manual harvesting is still prevalent in the agricultural industry. Accordingly, it is one of the largest contributors toward work-related musculoskeletal disorder. The cutting task in oil palm harvesting uses a long pole and involves repetitive and forceful motion of the upper limbs. Exoskeleton technology is increasingly explored to assist manual tasks performance in manufacturing and heavy industries, mainly for reducing discomfort and injuries, and improving productivity. This paper reports an initial investigation on the feasibility of using an upper limb exoskeleton to assist oil palm harvesting tasks. Previous studies highlighted that exoskeletons for agricultural activities should be adaptable to changing field tasks, tools and equipment. The immediate difference in the activity of three muscles were analyzed for a range of harvesting-simulated tasks. Lower activities were observed for tasks involving overhead work when using the prototype. Nevertheless, users' feedback highlighted that its design should be optimized for better acceptance.
手动采摘在农业领域仍然很普遍。因此，它是导致与工作相关的肌肉骨骼疾病的最大因素之一。油棕采摘中的切割任务使用长杆，并涉及上肢的重复和用力运动。外骨骼技术越来越多地被探索用于制造业和重工业中的手动任务，主要是为了减少不适和受伤，并提高生产力。本文报告了使用上肢外骨骼辅助油棕采摘任务的初步可行性研究。之前的研究强调，用于农业活动的外骨骼应该能够适应不断变化的田间任务、工具和设备。分析了一系列采摘模拟任务中三种肌肉的活动差异。使用原型进行 overhead 工作时，观察到任务的活动量较低。然而，用户的反馈强调，其设计应进行优化以提高接受度。
