ERGONOMIC DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

• US 20140326084A1
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Bhushan, Anant
• Granted Patent: US 9,936,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/865.4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1126 using a particular sensing technique
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 3/26 Devices for measuring efficiency, i.e. the ratio of power output to power input

Abstract

Techniques for monitoring and detecting ergonomic hot spots associated with movements of subjects are disclosed. For example, data may be collected by way of sensors attached to a plurality of subjects and may be analyzed to determine forces (e.g., vibration, jerks, acceleration, etc.) associated with the movements of the subjects. The analyzed data can be compared to ergonomic conditions to detect the ergonomic hot spots.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring performance of a process, the method comprising:

receiving acceleration data associated with nodes, the acceleration data being indicative of movements of the nodes; and

analyzing the acceleration data by comparing the acceleration data to one or more acceleration thresholds.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining that one of the movements is an ergonomic hot spot when acceleration data corresponding to the one of the movements exceeds an acceleration threshold from the one or more acceleration thresholds.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

providing information indicative of a physical condition associated with the ergonomic hot spot, the information being provided to a subject prior to an occurrence of the physical condition; and

receiving information indicative of an acknowledgement of the physical condition from the subject.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing an administrative solution to mitigate the ergonomic hot spot.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing an engineering solution to mitigate the ergonomic hot spot.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a tool configured to render a cumulative effect over time of the acceleration data to a subject associated with the nodes and an identifier of an ergonomic hot spot associated with the acceleration data.

7. A system comprising:

a first computing device comprising a first accelerometer, the first computing device configured to collect acceleration data caused by movements; and

a second computing device communicatively coupled to the first computing device, the second computing device configured to;

receive the acceleration data from the first computing device; and

process the received acceleration data to determine a relationship between the acceleration data and one or more thresholds.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second computing device is further configured to associate a set of the received data with an ergonomic hot spot when the acceleration data corresponding to the one of the movements exceeds an acceleration threshold from the one or more thresholds.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first computing device comprises a second accelerometer, wherein:

the first accelerometer is attached to a first node;

the second accelerometers is attached to a second node;

the first node is different from the second node; and

the acceleration data comprises data measured by the first accelerometer and the second accelerometer.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second computing device is configured to associate the first node or the second node with the ergonomic hot spot based at least in part on a comparison of the acceleration data associated with the first accelerometer and the second accelerometer to the one or more thresholds.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising a plurality of computing devices comprising accelerometers, the plurality of computing devices configured to be attached to a plurality of subjects and collect acceleration data caused by movements associated with the plurality of subjects.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second computing device is further configured to analyze collected acceleration data to determine that a task associated with the plurality of subjects is an ergonomic hot spot.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the second computing device is further configured to analyze the collected acceleration data to determine that a location within a work environment associated with the plurality of subjects is an ergonomic hot spot.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the second computing device is further configured to analyze the collected acceleration data to determine that a set of movements associated with the plurality of subjects is an ergonomic hot spot.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the acceleration data is indicative of a vibration movement associated with a subject, the first computing device being attached to the subject.

16. The system of claim 7, wherein a change in the acceleration data is indicative of a jerk movement associated with a subject, the first computing device being attached to the subject.

17. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed on a system comprising a processor and memory, cause the system to at least:

receive data indicative of physical movements of a plurality of subjects by way of a plurality of devices attached to the plurality of subjects; and

analyze at least a subset of the data by comparing the subset of the data to one or more thresholds.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 comprising further computer readable instructions that, when executed on the system, cause the system to at least determine that an ergonomic hot spot exists when a result of said analyze indicates that the subset of the data meets an ergonomic condition.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the data indicative of the physical movements further comprise a combination of motion data, posture data, and location data, the motion data comprising vibration data and force data.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the ergonomic condition is updated based at least in part on the data indicative of the physical movement.