Home // COGNITIVE 2013, The Fifth International Conference on Advanced Cognitive Technologies and Applications // View article


A Model of Burden Sense from Psychophysical Factors in Lifting Action with and without Power Assist Device

Authors:
Kosuke Takahashi
Takayuki Tanaka
Nara Hiroyuki
Kaneko Shun’ichi
Eiichi Yoshida

Keywords: Human Sense Model; Burden Model; Power Assist; EMG.

Abstract:
Abstract—In light of Japan’s low birthrate and aging population, technology is needed for facilitating the activities of elderly persons as well as their caregivers. Wearable assist devices, such as the Smart Suit Lite (SSL) developed at our laboratory, are effective for this purpose. It is important to evaluate such devices from not only physical, but also from psychophysical perspectives. Experiments involving lifting a heavy object with and without SSL were conducted, and SSL was evaluated psychophysically. The muscle activity was measured by surface electromyography. The psychophysiological evaluation was conducted by using the visual analogue scale, in which reductions in load of 22.01% for muscles and 19.74% for the sense of lumbar load were confirmed. This report proposes the human load sense model based on the sense of weight and the amount of muscular activation. This model is expected to find application in humanoid robots for robust evaluation of power assist devices.

Pages: 27 to 33

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2013

Publication date: May 27, 2013

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4197

ISBN: 978-1-61208-273-8

Location: Valencia, Spain

Dates: from May 27, 2013 to June 1, 2013