Lifting posture analysis in material handling using virtual humans

Joo H. Kim, Karim Abdel-Malek, Jingzhou Yang, Timothy Marler, Kyle Nebel

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Adopting appropriate postures during manual material-handling tasks is the key to reducing human joint injuries. Although much experimentation has been conducted in an effort to model lifting, such an approach is not general enough to consider all potential scenarios in material handling. Thus, in this paper an optimization-based motion prediction method is used to simulate realistic lifting postures and predict joint torques to evaluate the risk level of injury. A kinematically realistic digital human model has been developed such that the complicated musculoskeletal human structure is modeled as a combination of serial chains using the generalized coordinates. Lagrange's equations of motion and metabolic energy rate are derived for the digital human. The proposed method has been implemented to predict and evaluate the lifting postures based on the metabolic rate and joint torques. Our results show that different amount of external loads and tasks lead to different human postures and joint torque distribution, thus different risk level of injury.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Manufacturing Engineering Division, MED
Pages1445-1453
Number of pages9
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005
Event2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2005 - Orlando, FL, United States
Duration: Nov 5 2005Nov 11 2005

Publication series

NameAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Manufacturing Engineering Division, MED
Volume16-2

Other

Other2005 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2005
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando, FL
Period11/5/0511/11/05

Keywords

  • Joint torque
  • Lagrangian
  • Lifting
  • Motion prediction
  • Optimization
  • Posture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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