Evaluation Methods for the Assist Suit and Agricultural Applications

Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly
ISSN 00213551
NII recode ID (NCID) AA0068709X
Full text
Labor-saving technology has seen developments as the farmer population ages in Japan, and one of them is the assist suit. The assist suit can be categorized into exoskeleton and supporter types based on whether it is rigid and into active and passive types based on whether it is powered. The evaluation methods of the assist suit can be broadly classified into biomechanical analysis, physiological evaluation, and psychological evaluation. JIS B 8456-1 provides a method for measuring the mechanical assistive force, which is a static force or torque, of the lumbar support type, and we developed a method for measuring the dynamic assistive force, which is a dynamic force or torque, as a method building on top of the JIS method. The assistive forces can be compared with the tolerance of the human joints to estimate the operational safety of the assist suit on a human. Lifting and transporting objects, holding a half-sit posture, and picking fruits are representative tasks expected to utilize the assist suit in agriculture. In Japan, falls are considered the most important hazard because farmers often work on uneven ground with poor footing surrounded by many obstacles.
Date of issued
Creator Masahiro TANAKA Xiaohan XIANG
Subject exoskeleton farm work torque wearable robot
Publisher Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Received Date 2024-01-11
Accepted Date 2024-06-26
Available Online
Volume 59
Issue 2
spage 101
epage 118
DOI 10.6090/jarq.23S20
Language eng