Development of an Arm-Raising Work Assistance Tool for Maintenance of Trellis-Trained Fruit Trees

Abstract

We developed an arm-raising work assistance tool and evaluated its ability to mitigate effects of working load during grape cultivation. The tool comprises a hip belt, armrests, and connectors linking them. This tool supports the arms when held at any height, while keeping the wearer’s elbows pulled in. When performing berry thinning by using the tool, %MVC of the deltoid muscle was found to reduce by about 30% to 80% without reducing the efficiency. Seven of eight workers reported that the use of the tool made their work easier to perform.