There are many jobs which require continuous overhead work by floor mechanics. This taxing work ultimately leads to many employee seeking shoulder surgery due to repetitive strain injuries. During my time with with the Ergonomics Technology and Safety at Boeing, we worked to implement exoskeletons to reduce the risks associated with overhead work. The video below (from 0:58-1:20) illustrates the type of tool my team developed.
My work for this project involved designing gimbals to connect tools to the exoskeleton. Key requirements developed through user observation were the importance of quickly switching between multiple tools and the ability to allow the tool to rotate in the holder. CATIA was used to develop 3D models and developing multiple prototypes were instrumental to the success of this project.
