Workload Assessment of Tractor Operations with Ergonomic Transducers and Machine Learning Techniques.

Dynamic muscular workload assessments of tractor operators are rarely studied or documented, which is critical to improving their performance efficiency and safety. A study was conducted to assess and model dynamic load on muscles, physiological variations, and discomfort of the tractor operators arriving from the repeated clutch and brake operations using wearable non-invasive ergonomic transducers and data-run techniques. Nineteen licensed tractor operators operated three different tractor types of varying power ranges at three operating speeds (4-5 km/h), and on two common operating surfaces (tarmacadam and farm roads).

Drudgery assessment and ergonomic evaluation of pedal operated Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) thresher.

Background: Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) is a major food crop for the tribal population of India.

Objective: This study emphasizes the need to consider ergonomics aspects in the design and development of a pedal operated ragi thresher (PORT) for tribal people, and assesses the drudgery as well as ergonomic evaluation of a developed thresher against the conventional practice.

Methods: Thirty subjects (male = 15 and female = 15) from the tribal region were evaluated ergonomically.