ABSTRACT
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are often caused by repetitive lifting, making them a significant concern in occupational health. Although wearable assist devices have become the norm for mitigating the risk of back pain, most spinal assist devices still possess a partially rigid structure that impacts the user's comfort and flexibility. This paper addresses this issue by presenting a smart textile-actuated spine assistance robotic exosuit (SARE), which can conform to the back seamlessly without impeding the user's movement and is incredibly lightweight. To detect strain on the spine and to control the smart textile automatically, a soft knitting sensor that utilizes fluid pressure as a sensing element is used. Based on the soft knitting hydraulic sensor, the robotic exosuit can also feature the ability of monitoring and rectifying human posture. The SARE is validated experimentally with human subjects (N = 4). Through wearing the SARE in stoop lifting, the peak electromyography (EMG) signals of the lumbar erector spinae are reduced by 22.8% ± 12 for lifting 5 kg weights and 27.1% ± 14 in empty-handed conditions. Moreover, the integrated EMG decreased by 34.7% ± 11.8 for lifting 5 kg weights and 36% ± 13.3 in empty-handed conditions. In summary, the artificial muscle wearable device represents an anatomical solution to reduce the risk of muscle strain, metabolic energy cost and back pain associated with repetitive lifting tasks.
Subject(s)
Movement , Posture , Humans , Electromyography , Spine , Back Pain , Lifting , Biomechanical PhenomenaABSTRACT
Laparoscopic procedures have become indispensable in gastrointestinal surgery. As a minimally invasive process, it begins with primary trocar insertion. However, this step poses the threat of injuries to the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels. As such, the comprehension of the insertion process is crucial to the development of robotic-assisted/automated surgeries. To sustain robotic development, this research aims to study the interactive force/torque (F/T) behavior between the trocar and the abdomen during the trocar insertion process. For force/torque (F/T) data acquisition, a trocar interfaced with a six-axis F/T sensor was used by surgeons for the insertion. The study was conducted during five abdominal hernia surgical cases in the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. The real-time F/T data were further processed and analyzed. The fluctuation in the force/torque (F/T) parameter was significant, with peak force ranging from 16.83 N to 61.86 N and peak torque ranging from 0.552 Nm to 1.76 Nm. The force parameter was observed to positively correlate with procedural time, while torque was found to be negatively correlated. Although during the process a surgeon applied force and torque in multiple axes, for a robotic system, the push and turn motion in a single axis was observed to be sufficient. For minimal tissue damage in less procedural time, a system with low push force and high torque was observed to be advantageous. These understandings will eventually benefit the development of computer-assisted or robotics technology to improve the outcome of the primary trocar insertion procedure.
