A Wearable Multi-Modal Digital Upper Limb Assessment System for Automatic Musculoskeletal Risk Evaluation

Abstract

Continuous ergonomic risk assessment of the human body is critical to avoid various musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) for people involved in physical jobs. This paper presents a digital upper limb assessment (DULA) system that automatically performs rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) in real-time for the timely intervention and prevention of MSDs. While existing approaches require human resources for computing the RULA score, which is highly subjective and untimely, the proposed DULA achieves automatic and objective assessment of musculoskeletal risks using a wireless sensor band embedded with multi-modal sensors. The system continuously tracks and records upper limb movements and muscle activation levels and automatically generates musculoskeletal risk levels. Moreover, it stores the data in a cloud database for in-depth analysis by a healthcare expert. Limb movements and muscle fatigue levels can also be visually seen using any tablet/computer in real-time. In the paper, algorithms of robust limb motion detection are developed, and an explanation of the system is provided along with the presentation of preliminary results, which validate the effectiveness of the new technology.

A Physical Fatigue Evaluation Method for Automotive Manual Assembly: An Experiment of Cerebral Oxygenation with ARE Platform

“…In recent years, more and more researchers have made new explorations in the direction of physical fatigue evaluation. Just as the method used in this paper, there are many cases of using wearable devices for fatigue evaluation, and most of them have also achieved good results [36][37][38]. The use of wearable devices has the advantages of high precision, high flexibility and high adaptability.…”

A Sensor-Based Upper Limb Treatment in Hemiplegic Patients: Results from a Randomized Pilot Study

“…In terms of future developments, it would be interesting on one hand to implement a system that, through the use of the optical sensor of the Gloreha Aria (R-lead) device, perhaps even with the integration of other sensors (for example, EMG sensors), would be able to provide an assessment of the upper limb, as proposed by Tahir et al [ 46 ], and on the other hand, it would be interesting to consider the study of neuropsychological aspects [ 47 , 48 ], which could represent a vast scenario from which patients could benefit.…”