Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 08, 2024 - September 11, 2024
Apple harvesting is the most prosperous agriculture in Aomori prefecture. However, the labor shortages and the increase of deserted arable lands due to lack of the new producers are the issues in recent years. To prepare a healthy and safe working environment for producers, workload should be measured to assess their fatigue and safety. As a way to investigate the characteristics of physical activity, surface Electro Myography (sEMG) is one of the methods used to measuring muscle activity. However, this method is not suitable for long-term measurement due to noise generation caused by perspiration, and it needs some advance preparation such as hair removal as also. Force Myography (FMG), which detects changes in muscle thickness and elevation of the skin, has been proposed as a method for evaluating muscle activity. Also in the previous study, a “muscle stiffness sensor” was developed to estimate the change in muscle stiffness during motion. In this study, we created an experimental system model which simulate a fruit tree joint system considered as one of the less-workload tree systems, and then evaluate the physical load in harvesting; one of the cultivation process, by using muscle stiffness sensors. The experiments were conducted at 1m and 1.5m height stems. In this experiment, it was found that the physical load during apple harvesting in 1.5 m height stem could be lower than in 1.0 m height stem, by using effective use of stepladder.
