Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ERGOVIAkinematix (New wearable measurement devices for Industry 4.0 based on gaming motion-capture system)

Teaser

The project tackles key challenges of automotive and mechanical engineering sectors:1) on-going strive for production efficiency in terms of material, energy and time consumption on the one hand, and compliance with requirements for occupational safety, namely for manual...

Summary

The project tackles key challenges of automotive and mechanical engineering sectors:
1) on-going strive for production efficiency in terms of material, energy and time consumption on the one hand, and compliance with requirements for occupational safety, namely for manual labour, on the other;
2) economic costs of occupational diseases and injuries (most commonly, musculoskeletal diseases – MSDs): for employers, MSDs reduce company efficiency due to loss of productivity; and they increase societal costs, namely worker compensation, medical and administrative costs. In general, the annual cost to the EU in lost productivity and sickness absences is estimated at 2% of the GDP.
3) Limited accuracy of ergonomic measurement tools which hinders application of Methods-Time-Measurement (MTM) methodology into manufacturing process.
4) Absence of ergonomic measurement tools for those parts of the production process that comprise metal objects (e.g. engine manufacture/assembling lines), which hinders efficiency of production evaluation, limits the space for improvement (optimisation).
Given the list of challenges, healthy ergonomics is a priority of the manufacturing industry in Europe, it is one of the best tools for optimisation and industrial production planning in line with the Smart Industry concept.
Our overall objective is to address the above-mentioned challenges and at the mean time create a business opportunity for company Innov8 to expand onto global market of Smart Industry. Innov8´s product ERGOVIA with Kinematix module is capable to identify potential for increase in manufacture efficiency up to 30% in terms of time and 25% in terms of lean operations elimination.
Conclusion: Within the project duration we managed to achieve all our specific objectives. Our product brings several benefits beyond the state of the art in ergonomics:
1. Process analysis tool: ERGOVIA Kinematix is capable of immediate visual and audio autodetection of micro movement (microkinetic) of fingers that are responsible for MSDs (carpal tunnels, etc.). Critical movements can thus be optimized in order to prevent high risks of MSDs.
2. Research and Development Tool for ergonomic and occupational safety methodology. Given the fact that ERGOVIA Kinematix is a complex tool, it is capable to push the state of the art in ergonomics onto a new level by enabling the creation of a new generation of ergonomic catalogue comprising time-force standards as well as the distance travelled, weight of the manipulated object and grip type. Complexity like this has not yet been achieved or enabled in ergonomics.
3. Process facilitation accessories: ERGOVIA Kinematix has brought about a whole new series of Innov8´s product. Based on the experience we gathered during the project duration (customers feedback), we decided to produce a set of accessories that can be directly linked to ERGOVIA Kinematix software. These accessories (for different grips and micromovement) lower the negative impact of repetitive finger movement on occupational health of workers in logistics and production.

Work performed

We developed a functioning prototype of a complex HW/SW system, validated the product on site (demonstrations at various production lines), finalized other aspects of the product (packaging, design etc.), elaborated pricing policy and IRP protection strategy (e.g. EULA licences) and we conducted robust marketing activities to promote our pilot product on the European market.
Overview of the results:
- Technical viability of the product has been confirmed. We managed to conclude integration of the module Kinematix into our main HW/SW product ERGOVIA. Prototype has been tested in a real environment on the production sites of BMW and Volkswagen. Results of these tests have been evaluated and brought about new avenues of further research into special accessories and new approach to ergonomic methodologies. Measurement accuracy of our product in close proximity to metal object has been verified.
- Furthermore, we elaborated a detailed plan of the action for the next three years comprising the evaluation of company´s readiness to scale-up the production, evaluation of the availability of components on the market and a list of infrastructure investments that need to be taken.
- Market report – within the project duration we presented the ERGOVIAKinematix project on 25 different events – workshops, on-site demonstrations, web-conferences and seminars. A detailed list of events is included in the technical report. We also presented our project and the new product on the international fora: “8. Internationale Konferenz für Ergonomie und Industrial Engineering” on May 14-15, 2019 in Frankfurt, Frapport, Germany.
- Moreover, based on our robust demonstrations and on-site testing in relevant environments (various production sites of our clients from automotive industry), we received a valuable feedback as to which add-ons clients want, which modifications should we apply to tailor our product to a specific client. These inputs form a basis of our product customization plan that is linked to our marketing and sales strategy. Moreover, based on our customers feedback we decided to expand our product portfolio by ERGOVIA accessories (specific facilitation tools for workers to prevent MSDs).
- A crucial part of our work has been done in cooperation with our coach, that helped us design IPR and legal documents such as the EULA (End-user licence agreement), NDA (Non-disclosure agreement), SLA (Service level agreement), and legal documents related to distribution, marketing and subcontracting of our products. All of these documents are crucial for protection of our unique product on the global market and also form a basis of our sales and marketing strategy. We also elaborated a price configurator app that helps us with price offer development and keeps tract of the sales of our product.
- Financial and business plan of the product ERGOVIA Kinematix has been elaborated comprising marketing and sales strategy, detailed investment plan and an analysis of operational expenses with the next 3-5 years. The plan also includes a pricing policy (strategy), determination of the structure of labour force and cashflow. We plan to compete for SME Instrument Phase 2 funding to cover our expenses in the next phase of our product development.

Final results

Within the project duration we managed to achieve a disruptive market innovation at a global scale - ERGOVIA v.6 (Kinematix) – a new generation of SMART (HW&SW) tools for process analysis and optimization of the production cycle in automotive and other manufacturing industries. Currently, our product is at an average TRL7 level (prototype demonstration in operational environment), while HW data unit is at TRL9, sensors and the measuring gloves are at TRL7 and the software ERGOVIA Control Application with Kinematix module is functional in a limited beta version (TRL7) and still under further development (integration of other functions and modules). The key innovation, however, is our new software module Kinematix. This module pushed our product ERGOVIA onto a new level of ergonomic measurement market.
ERGOVIA has become a complex process analyzation tool, that is capable to make in-time analysis and audiovisual record of the process, evaluate and archive critical moments of the analyzed process based on various ergonomic methodologies (EAWS, HWD). It is capable of evaluating the existing work process and visualize its critical moments based on a system of 10 factors: process time; force/weight (load); position/grip; frequency of occurrence; structural shape of the active part 1; structural shape of the passive part 2; material characteristic of the active part; material characteristic of the passive part; working tool; interconnecting medium.
By enabling time-dependent analysis of all the above-mentioned factors, ERGOVIA creates a platform for complex ergonomic analysis of the production process based on global time-force standards (EAWS, HWD methodologies). ERGOVIA Control Application with Kinematix module is capable of providing tree-like experimental structure of ergonomic measurements. This enables the user to repeat the same working process and identify/monitor inter-dependencies of the 10 factors mentioned above. This way, we are able to find and evaluate the optimum efficient solution to a long-term healthy production. ERGOVIA is a unique complex multi-factor process analyzing tool for the following areas:
- Research and development of evaluation methods in ergonomics by providing complex analytical data to create process-oriented force-and-time production standards
- In-depth research of “cause-effect” in the area of occupational medicine (musculoskeletal diseases) by providing complex information (data) on “force – time – grip – frequency” aspects of the production process
- Lean operation management, increasing efficiency of production processes by providing complex data for development of specific norms, methodologies and work standardization
- Development of global catalogue of ergonomic force-time standards
- Sport medicine, increasing efficiency of sportsmen in certain sports
As to socio-economic impacts, ERGOVIA may prevent occupational diseases and injuries (most commonly, musculoskeletal diseases – MSDs): for employers, MSDs reduce company efficiency due to loss of productivity; and they increase societal costs, namely worker compensation, medical and administrative costs. In some EU Member States 40% of the costs of workers’ compensation are caused by MSDs, reaching up to 1.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country itself. In general, the cost to the EU each year in lost productivity and sickness absences is estimated at 2% of the GDP.
This innovative product is in line with EU cross-cutting Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in the field of monitoring, perception and awareness in manufacturing (provide cost optimisation), characteristic (human) motion detection in computer vision (reliable track of human motion from visual input based on accurate algorithms) and material/energy – efficient manufacturing process.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.innov8.sk/.