Hirokazu Nozaki

Development of muscle suit and application to factory laborers

Because of the progress of technology, we have liberated from heavy tasks in a large sense. However, heavy tasks that are difficult to mechanically automate are still remained a lot in the field of agriculture, manufacture, construction, and so forth. These heavy tasks are big issue since they cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, we developed Muscle Suit in order to solve this problem. Muscle Suit, wearable robot, provides a muscular support by wearing it on the laborers. The use of McKibben artificial muscle allows Muscle Suit to be lightweight, small enough, and reliable for practical use. In this paper, we have developed Muscle Suit for factory laborers and also examined the effects of Muscle Suit on lifting and holding tasks.

Development of support system for forward tilting of the upper body

We have been developing a wearable robot that directly and physically supports human movement. A ldquomuscle suitrdquo for the arm that will provide muscular support for the paralyzed or those otherwise unable to move unaided is one example. Whereas low back pain is one of the most serious issue for the manual worker and in this paper, we focus on developing the support system for forward tilting of the upper body. In this paper, the concept and mechanical structure of the support system is shown. From the experimental result to keep forward tilting posture with load indicates our system is very effective for keeping forward tilting posture and it becomes clear that more than 60% reduction of muscular power is possible.

Development of anteversion posture support system

We have been developing a wearable robot that directly and physically supports human movement. A “muscle suit” for the arm that will provide muscular support for the paralyzed or those otherwise unable to move unaided is one example. Whereas low back pain is one of the most serious issue for the manual worker and in this paper, we focus on developing the support system for anteversion posture support. In this paper, the concept and mechanical structure of the support system is shown. From the experimental result to keep anteversion posture with load indicates our system is very effective for keeping anteversion posture and it becomes clear that more than 60% reduction of muscular power is possible.