PRE2019 4 Group9

Group members

Name	Student ID	Department
Pim Claessen	0993712	Applied Physics
Bengt Frielinck	1269593	Automotive
Matthijs Marinus	1000921	Software Science
Max Opperman	1232427	Computer Science and Engineering
Thomas Willems	1022753	Software Science

User Group

We will be designing our exoskeleton for use by emergency responders. In most situations these will be firefighters. However we will keep other use cases in mind for example for police officers or search and recue operations. Firefighters have an incredibly difficult and dangerous job. Typical firefighter emergency scenario’s include medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, building collapse and of course putting out fires among others. These are difficult, strenuous activities often carried out in very adversarial conditions. It is then not surprising that one of the mayor causes of death for firefighters is overexertion, being struck by objects or getting caught/trapped . Our exoskeleton should help alleviate this group by reducing the amount of physical exertion firefighters have to undergo while performing our jobs. We also hope the exoskeleton can provide the firefighters with the extra boost in strength to free themselves or people they are helping in dangerous situation. The exoskeleton should also serve as a type of shield by taking some of the blows of various objects hitting the firemen since the exoskeleton will cover a large part of their bodies. It will also help them carry people much easier out of dangerous situations, or move heavy objects trapping people. You could also think about tall buildings which are on fire. Firemen have to carry equipment up a large set of stairs. Currently there is already an exoskeleton design who helps firemen carry up to 40kg of weight making this task much easier and faster . It should also be applicable in traffic accidents where victims are stuck in folded cars. Often firemen are called in these scenarios to cut open the car. This is a difficult process and having an exoskeleton to bend or break critical parts should be a tremendous help.

Another great user group are search and rescue workers. After natural disaster these people are deployed to find and help people who are in danger. This usually involves freeing people from under a large pile of debris from collapsed buildings or other items. These operations usually take a long time and a lot of equipment. Shows a company who has developed and exoskelton already for this case allowing the user to have extra power to move debris or objects for a long period of time under harsh conditions. These are defenitly some of the features we want to equip or exoskeleton with.

Police officers could also benefit from using this type of technoglogy. As explained in police officers often have to carry heavy equipment like gun vests or gun belts with them. This coupled with long standing hours causes a lot of police offers to eventually develop health problems in their back or legs causing them to become unemployed. If they were to carry and exoskelton during long work hours we could alleviate some of this repetetive strain.

State of the Art

We probably have to pull different innovations from all kinds of different types of exoskeletons. From different parts of the body to different types of exoskeletons (varying goals). shows that currently a problem many exoskeletons face is the tradeoff between rigidness and agility. Often a more rigid skeleton can provide more stability/force but in practice is quite cumbersome. The exoskeleton in is an example of an exoskeleton designed for firemen. It provides support for the back and shoulders and is a good example of something we would like to achieve, alleviate some of the heavy work. Discuses some positive/negatives of a back support exoskeleton mostly used in treatment of SCI (spinal cord injury). Interesting part of this article is that it also discusses some of the dangers involved in using an exoskeleton like bone fractures and skin shearing. Furthermore it also discuses how tailor made most exoskeletons are and that most take a lot of practice to get used to. The last problem it brings up is that they also take of lot of time to get into. These are all problems we are going to have to think about in our project.

<ref name="PoliceExo"</ref> Talks about the impact exoskeletons could have on police work. A lot of injuries over the long term are caused by repetitive strain from carrying gun belt, bullet resistant vests and long periods of standing. As is the case for firemen, who also carry a lot of gear and are likely to have to stand for long periods of time, our ES should alleviate this repetitive strain keeping the emergency responders in better health for a longer time. [5] Displays another great possible use case exoskeletons, some of which we want to replicate in our model. It involves and exoskeleton designed for dangerous and heavy search and rescue work under extreme conditions. It allows the user to carry heavy object with greater ease and for longer periods of time helping with moving debris or heavy objects. This is also a functionality we want to have.