The present research makes an attempt to design and develop an automated hand shovel (AHS) as a hand attachment that assists in mud removal during gardening and thereby increases efficiency of the task and reduces hand-arm strain. A four-bar mechanism with a slider-revolute joint powered by a high torque DC motor has been designed for this purpose. Proper experimentations had been conducted to trace the actual path/trajectory of hand movement for 06 healthy participants during shovelling mechanism by three-dimensional motion-tracking cameras. The device is designed to imitate the motion curve followed during actual shovelling operation. The tool end is modified to ensure minimum resistance to the mechanism during piercing. The structure of AHS aligns the handwrist-arm posture and provides sufficient support to the human arm during operation. A conceptual and functional prototype has been fabricated for physical visualization and to assess the feasibility of the design. The proposed device is helpful for a gardener/user to perform gardening task with increased efficiency and higher comfort at handwrist arm. The proposed AHS can be further modified to serve multiple gardening operations.
Design and Development of an Automated Hand Shovel
Design Science and Innovation
2021-03-24
8 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
SHOVEL, SHOVEL CONTROL DEVICE, AND SHOVEL SUPPORT DEVICE
European Patent Office | 2022
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