Communications of the ACM
Exoskeletons Debut at Ford Factories
Ford is offering its factory workers worldwide an exoskeleton to help reduce their physical stress.
Credit: Ford
Ford plans to offer exoskeleton technology to its factory employees worldwide.
The EksoVest exoskeleton is designed to elevate a worker's arms during overhead tasks, both allowing wearers to move their arms freely and also delivering 15 pounds of assistance and support for each arm; the higher a user reaches, the more support the exoskeleton offers.
The automaker’s assembly line workers lift their arms during overhead tasks about one million times per year, creating substantial risk for fatigue and upper-body injuries. EksoVests will reduce the physical stress experienced by staff working on overhead tasks.
Ford's Bruce Hettle says ergonomics research, assembly improvements, and lift-assist technologies have helped the company design safe and efficient assembly lines “while maintaining high vehicle quality for our customers.”
From ZDNet
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