The objective of the present project is to quantify ergonomics risk factors and characterize pain and work-related disabilities of the lower extremities and low back of rice farmers and to relate this information to the characteristics non-occupational disabled populations (CP patients) as a basis for extending AT designs for patients in daily living activities to farmers in work tasks. The physical disability conditions of the two populations are to be mapped to each other in terms of various anatomical and physiological parameters. The project will also define a structured design process for AT to target specific disabilities, such as extreme foot pronation and abnormal posture in back flexion in CP patients with loss of muscle control due to neurological dysfunction and in farmers due to work environment conditions. Follow-on research is expected to include dual-population AT design, rapid prototyping of low-cost highly usable AT, performance assessment using ergonomic measurement methods, a design validation using high-fidelity lab mock-ups of farm and daily living tasks and through actual field tests. The results of the research are expected to be transformative with respect to disability engineering research on the design and development of dual-population AT.
