Implementing exoskeletons on to a job site
Summary
Due to intensive manual labor, construction workers are more likely to suffer from various health issues, for example, back pain. The purpose of this proposal is to design exoskeleton arms that can strengthen the power of upper limbs and also implement this idea in a construction company preferably Bechtel.
The project can be divided into 5 steps.
- Analyze how the workers work in the construction site
- Design a suitable exoskeleton according to the analysis from step 1
- List the components and materials, and buy them at the lowest price after analysis
- Provide lessons and procedures to the construction workers
- Produce the products massively
The project was initiated by a company named Master Arm. The founders of Master Arm are made up by experienced elites of different fields from the globe. Ameen Patel, material engineer, earned his doctoral degree in MIT and devotes his life researching materials using micro-technology. Jianbing Wang, mechanical engineer, earned his doctoral degree in University of California, Berkeley. He has worked in Boston Dynamics company for over 10 years designing robots in construction field. Richard Martinez, director of this project, is a famous robotic designer of the world. He has worked for NASA for 9 years and participated in many innovative exploratory projects. Zhichuan Tan, financial manager, earned his doctoral degree from Harvard University and has worked in NYSE America in Wall Street for 6 years.
To implement this project, we would hire qualified engineers whose salary would be $105,000 each depending on what type of engineer they are. The material fee would be $3,500 for each exoskeleton. The total estimated cost of this project would be $5,000,000.
Introduction
Problem:
Construction workers are constantly getting injured on the job. Sometimes it is not that serious, but other times it can be very fatal. In 2017 the Courtley Health and Safety (CH&S) stated, “Construction and agriculture tend to come out worst (in fatal injuries at workers by main industry) as they account for the greatest number of fatalities each year.” Of the amount of injuries received by construction workers, a good percentage of it is by moving items (Figure 2).
Figure 1 Number of fatal injuries arising from accidents at work in Great Britain 2016/17 (CH&S, 2017).
Figure 2 Types of accidents that led to injuries in construction in Great Britain 2016/17 (CH&S, 2017).
Since the materials used on the construction site usually heavy it can cause a person to pull a muscle while trying to lift it. It also takes multiple people to lift a single beam or carry materials from one place to another. We are going to propose a way to not only help prevent injuries on construction sites, but also speed up the construction process.
Exoskeletons:
An exoskeleton is a wearable device that works with the body of the user and is used to amplify human skills (Exoskeleton Report, 2015).An exoskeleton is a perfect solution to this problems as it will allow constructions workers to lift more with less of a risk of hurting themselves by pulling/tearing a muscle or breaking a bone. It also makes construction faster as it will cause less people to be needed to carry and move heavy objects. Although exoskeletons are already a thing, the one we made is a modified version that is placed on the arms and back (Figure 3) which is primarily used to help people lift heavy things.
Figure 3 Construction Worker using the exoskeleton (Thilmany, 2019)
Prime Candidate:
Bechtel: London City Airport, London
We propose to implement our exoskeletons on to the Bechtel construction site of the upgrade of the London City Airport in London. The Airport is set to finish in 2022 with major changes being applied to it (Figure 4). Since the airport is open during this construction, it will cause limitations for the use of big machines during construction. Therefore it will cause the workers to carry more items and make the construction process take longer than it should. By implementing our exoskeletons, we will allow the workers to lift more with less work, which will allow for decrease in construction time. We plan on manufacturing the exoskeletons and then teaching the workers how to use it before we implement it on the worksite.
Figure 4 Model of the finished London City Airport (Bechtel, 2017)
The following definitions were taken from an online web sources
Key Terms:
Exoskeleton: wearable devices that work in tandem with the user. They are placed on the user’s body and act as amplifiers that augment, reinforce or restore human performance (Exoskeleton Report, 2015).
Micro-technology: technology on a small or microscopic scale (Merriam-Webster)
Bechtel: one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies (Bechtel).
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): clothing or equipment designed to protect workers from physical hazards when on a worksite (Safety Culture)
Printed Circuit Boards (PCB): a thin board made of fiberglass, composite epoxy, or other laminate material. Conductive pathways are etched or “printed” onto board, connecting different components on the PCB, such as transistors, resistors, and integrated circuits (Tech Terms).
Proposed Program
There are a limited number of ways that one can use an exoskeleton an example would be to replace a limb, or be able to stand. Now imagine to be able to lift a tremendous amount of weight. That would be superhuman. This design made by Master Arm makes this dream possible. The exoskeleton is made up of many parts but the important ones are listed below.
The goal of this project is to be able to gift not only job sites with more time but the people working. There are about 2,000 workers on the job sites and more than half complain about knee pains, back pains and even joint pains. This exoskeleton provides workers with the ability to not only fix their posture but help them continue working. This idea is to be able to sell the exoskeleton to the job site with a reasonable price and cut down there time and money wasted on a jobsite which will correlate into saving time.
Materials used:
- Motors : A motor is like a human brain that tells the arm to lift an object or to release the pressure and put the object down. There will be several motors utilized in the Exoskeleton. There is one that control the hydraulic pump and the one that controls the gears between upper and lower arm.
Figure 5: Titian Arm
- Hydraulic cylinder: A hydraulic cylinder is like the muscle on our body that does all the heavy lifting. The hydraulic cylinder is attached to the leg portion of the exoskeleton arm. When the wearer bend down, the pressure in the hydraulic pump will be released. After the wearer has a good grip on the object, the motor will increase pressure in the hydraulic cylinder and extend the piston rod, thus making the wearer stand up. The amount of weight that can be lifted will depend on the capacity of the hydraulic cylinder,
Figure 6: hydraulic cylinder
- Batteries : The Exoskeleton came with two 12-volts Lithium Polymer 6000mAh batteries that will power the motor. Depending on the weight of the object being lifted, the batteries will last an average of 4 hours with a charging time of 8 hours.
Figure 7: Battery
- Steel Gears : The upper and lower arm along with the back portion will be connected with steel gears. They are attached with a lock mechanism controlled by the motor. When the worker is about to lift an object, the motor turns on the lock which prevents the steel gears from turning thus holding arms and the legs in place.
Figure 8: Steel Gears
- (PCB boards) Circuit Board : The Circuit board is a pre programmed board that grants the worker the ability to move and command the exoskeleton with ease. This circuit board helps send data to the exoskeleton suit to lock and hold the mechanism which creates the ability to move and also hold objects.
Figure 9: PCB Boards
- Backpack : Made with carbon fiber material that stores the motor for the steel gears and the LED Display. The backpack has nylon straps that help prevent the wearer from bending their back.
Figure 10: backpack prototype
- Cooling system: The cooling system is designed to help the exoskeleton stay at a cool temperature so the device doesn’t overheat and malfunction. This is used on motors and circuit boards to help them communicate with one another at the highest efficiency
Figure 11: Cooling system
- Pressure sensor: This component allows the exoskeleton to identify the object and also the amount of pressure needed to hold the object. This is very important because this allows the exoskeleton to not break or damage the item it is holding.
Figure 12: pressure sensor
Innovation process
Exoskeletons have been designed in many ways to satisfy many consumers ranging from structure of body to size of exoskeleton. The design created by Master Arm helps provide construction workers with the power to lift up to 500 pounds at ease. The budget of the project is $5,000,000 and the price for materials cost about $3,500 which results in the cost to have one be from $6,000 to $8,000. This project was started and created by the best engineers possible in order to satisfy the goal of improving production, safety and money. The engineers that would help out during the project would be hand selected by the founders of Master Arm. This would lead to the best possible teams for their certain objective. The cost for the engineers would cost about $105,000 per engineer the salary depends on the type of engineer that it going to be hired. This project would also develop internships for students to understand the field of robotic and manufacturing.
The project was developed by Master Arm in order to help construction workers be more efficient and also more productive during their time working. The average construction worker has a 67% chance of getting injured on a construction site with the exoskeleton the percentage drops due to the safety and capability that the exoskeleton has installed. The ability to increase strength and also safety will improve a constructions overall rate. With this schedule the construction site will not be interrupted during their work but with the exoskeleton it will improve speed and efficiency
Schedule for the implementation of exoskeletons:
| 3 months before the job site begins | 2 months before the job site begins | 30 days before the jobsite begins | Job site in progress | Towards the end of the jobsite | |
| Manufacturing the exoskeletons for the job site | 1st | ||||
| Finalizing and adjusting the exoskeleton for the job site | 2nd | ||||
| Providing the workers with safety procedures to be able to use the exoskeleton | 3rd | ||||
| Implementing the exoskeletons on to the job site | 4th | ||||
| Receiving feedback about the exoskeletons | 5th | ||||
| Producing a more efficient exoskeletons for the next job site | 5th |
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