Manufacturing operators are constantly experiencing back pain fatigue due to the movement and transportation of heavy objects, installation work, etc., such as mold replacement. In order to reduce and prevent these obstacles, we considered the introduction of a body suit with an assist function by an electric motor designed so that a large load is not applied to their waist and arms.
The assist suit was provided for our trial with the cooperation of Okaya & Co., Ltd. Kyushu Co., Ltd. and Hashimoto Office Machinery.
This time, we used Panasonic's "ATOUN MODELY + Kote", which is now sold in Japan and has a good reputation at the manufacturing site.
The manufacturing operator tried it on and performed the operation of holding the same heavy object as the actual work to verify whether it was available or not.
✔Suit specifications
Body weight: Approximately 5 kg, Rechargeable battery: Continuous 2.5 hours (full charge time 4 hours) Maximum assist power Approximately 10 to 15 kg
Estimated maximum transport weight: Approximately 30-40 kg
✔Result
In actual work dealing with heavy objects at the site, there are many combinations of "up and down & horizontal" direction movement.
Therefore, it was found that the assist suit is effective for vertical movement, but it is ineffective in the horizontal direction. In addition, the time and effort required to remove the finger cap each time work is increased.
In some cases, the operator goes under the machine to work, and it was found that the work setup by attaching and detaching the suit body increases.
In the future, we would like to reconsider if functional improvements such as cost reduction, ease of attachment / detachment, miniaturization, and horizontal assist (pushing forward while holding a heavy object) are advanced due to product improvements. Such an opinion came out.
This time, we decided that the power assist suit could not be used, but it was a meaningful opportunity for everyone to share the awareness that on-site improvement by such cutting-edge technology is also an idea.