Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

Any time I feel tense and sore from typing all day, from now on I’m going to step back and stretch and just be thankful I don’t spend the entire day squatting and assembling cars.

Auto-maker Honda has recently finished a ten-year project developing a robotic, battery-operated machine that will assist its workers in walking, crouching and climbing stairs. It’s for people who are able and fit, but perform repetitive tasks all day, and need some additional support.

Essentially, the thing looks like some robotic legs…here’s how it works

During their research, the engineers developed a mechanism where the seat and frame follow the movement of the body and legs. Assisting force is directed toward the end user’s center of gravity, just as with human legs, which enables the device to provide assistance in various movements and postures.

The ergonomic tool supports a portion of an end user’s bodyweight by lifting the seat as the frame between the shoe and seat bends and extends, just like knees, with the force from the motor. As a result, the load on leg muscles and joints is reduced.

Natural walking is achieved by changing the amount of assisting force applied to the right and left legs through the control of two motors based on the information obtained though sensors embedded in the shoes of the device.

Now if they’d only make me a pair of robotic arms that types for me… but I guess I’ll have to put up with using voice recognition, taking tons of breaks and being human for now;)

Read the full article here.

Possibly Related Articles:

• How to Realign Your Hips to Relieve Neck and Back Pain
• What Starbucks Gets Right –It’s Comfort, Not Coffee
• Review –Using a Kneeling Chair to Ease Back Pain
• Drive Safely, Comfortably, and Alertly - Don’t Crash Into Tankers!
• Different Kinds of Kneeling Chairs