AEGIS

Aegis is an exoskeleton that assists logging workers with their tasks and protects them from falling objects such as trees and limbs

Research

Looking for the causes of injuries/deaths of logging workers was critical. Researching on the ways how the logging workers get injured, interviewing logging workers for their personal story and collecting the resources to find the problems.

According to statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the logging industry had 110.9 injuries and 78 deaths in 2014.

Logging workers are 30 times more likely to die than the average American worker.

Problems

Lack of protection

Due to the weather condition, logging workers tend to not wear extra protection.

Chainsaw Injuries

They still have a chance of getting cuts from the chainsaw.

Lack of stamina

Especially in hot weather condition, logging workers have hard time doing their job.

Objectives

Strength

Giving extra power to logging workers will make the job easier and safer

Protection

Providing protection from falling trees or limbs will make less chance of injury

Free movement

Being able to move freely within the exoskeleton will persuade them to wear it.

Ideation

Started off with 2D sketches to understand and design an exoskeleton for logging worker. While doing that, built a rough 3D model to understand the movement of the human body and the structure of exoskselton.

Development

After getting the idea of exoskeleton, started applying the strength, protection and free movement aspect in the exoskeleton by creating iterations of 3D printed parts. Also, creating a 1:1 scale model visually helped to see how it can look like in real life.