Atlas Copco | Ergonomic use
How could an industrial grade electric angle grinder be designed to nudge the user to work in a more ergonomic way?
5 weeks | Individual Project | Umeå Institute of Design | 2023
Brief
To design with the form language of an existing brand and learn to evaluate the ergonomic aspects of a design.
Tools & methods
User interviews and observations
Desktop research
Motor package analysis
Ergonomic analysis
Desktop research
Motor package analysis
Ergonomic analysis
Blender
Process
We started out by visiting three local workshops around Umeå where we interviewed and observed the users to get an insight into how they use the angle grinder and what challenges they experience. We then tried out the angle grinder for ourselves, expanded our understanding with desktop research and analysed the findings, grouping them into insights related to the grinder itself and insights related to the routines and practices.
50%
of vibration-exposed individuals worldwide are affected by neurovascular injuries.
Main insights
- The most common injury related to with angle grinders is vibration damage on the nerves in your hands and arms. In the long term, the vibration damage on the nerves can be so severe that you need help with everyday activities like closing shirt-buttons or shaving. This is of course life changing for the affected individuals, who often quit their job as soon as symptoms occur. And as a result this also creates a problem for the workshops, who already face challenges to recruit people with the right competence.
- Anti-vibration gloves are usually not worn. Because of the risks of vibration induced injuries, many workshops try avoid working with angle grinders.
- The support handle and explosion guard are often lost. For some tasks, the support handle and explosion guard are in the way and therefore removed. Due to the amount of time it takes to take these off and on, they are often left on the side and then displaced and lost.
- The angle grinder is often used with just one hand, even though the main grip is too big for most hands.
- Equipping the angle grinder with a soft start and break reduces the torque significantly.
- The users prefer to use two separate grinders equipped with different discs, over using one grinder and switching between discs.
- The users would wish for a longer lifespan of the grinders, or the possibility to fix some parts themselves. The first part that breaks down is usually the power cord.
Tackling the problem through another perspective
I really enjoy research and I always strive to dig deeper in the pursuit of finding the roots of a problem. As Atlas Copco is an industry leader when it comes to ergonomics, and have lots of in-house expertise in the technical aspects of it, I wanted to find another angle in which they are not currently addressing the problem of vibrations.
The challenge I chose for my design process was to minimize the amount of vibrations that are absorbed into the body as a result of improper practices. This is based on the insight that many users add unnecessary manual pressure, and that adding more manual pressure increases the amount of vibrations that are transfered into the hands and arms. On top of this, the redundant pressure causes the disc to wear out faster, and as the worn out disc decreases the efficiency - the user adds even more pressure, resulting in a negative behaviour loop.
How might we nudge the user to work a more ergonomic way?
Details: Ergonomic buttons for both hands and a visible logo
To make sure I design a power button that is ergonomic for both hands and easy to understand, I examined the ergonomic and semiotic aspects of the buttons on the electric tools in the UID workshop. And in addition to the brand guide we received from Atlas Copco, I looked closer at their logo placement and techniques.
Refining sketches
Based on the form vision, the package and the technical features I then refined the form. Sketching on the silhouette, form transitions, split lines and air vents.
Final Concept
The final concept is an electric angle grinder that minimizes the absorption of vibrations into the users body - not only though improved technical aspects and material choices, but through changing the users behaviour. Making sure the user is working in a more ergonomic way is the best protection against vibration induced injuries.
Nudging a more ergonomic use
The grinder features a pressure sensor that will detect when too much manual force is used and warn the user through light signals and decreased speed.
If needed, the decreasing speed could be turned off through a connected Atlas Copco Torque Software that warns the user about the risks of not utilizing this feature. But the sensors will still detect inappropriate use and warn the user through the red light..
Learning Blender
I enjoy research and I can sometimes end up spending a lot of time on it, and this time it resulted in very little time left for the visualizations, which I realized just a few days before presentation.
But as the day in fact has 24 hours - I decided I still had time to learn Blender! Here are some fun errors I encountered:
