Exoskeleton Technology to Reduce the Risk of Injuries During Manipulation of Heavy Objects

During all logistical, maintenance and aircraft loading operations, the heavy loads are either supported by vehicles, secured to aircrafts or on the floor. The crew members go through all kinds of maneuvers and unhealthy postures such as bending for a long time, squatting repeatedly or for a long time, pulling, pushing, tightening, twisting and other maneuvers for maintenance or fine positioning of the heavy loads. During these operations, the weights of the heavy loads are hardly supported by the crew members. However, these operations cause injurious forces on the backs, shoulders, knees, elbows and wrists of the crew members. We propose two exoskeleton modules to strengthen the crew wrists and elbows. The wrist and elbow exoskeleton modules, in combination with our current exoskeleton modules at U. S. Bionics, will substantially reduce the forces in crew members body joints. This effective approach will impact a large population of personnel involved in various DOD logistical operations and does not require any substantial change in the current logistical methods and current equipment. Additionally, the modularity in our exoskeletons gives the crew members choices on what to wear during each operation.