About the event
Demographic change, rising life expectancy and a declining birth rate are increasingly leading to a shortage of skilled workers and longer working lives. In this webinar, you’ll learn how technology can be used to assist with physical work by reducing the load on the musculoskeletal system.
Exoskeletons, as a form of wearable robotics technologies, offer the potential to assist workers in performing manually demanding jobs. They help to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injury and enable repetitive or heavy tasks to be completed with ease.
Professor Leonard O’Sullivan explores recent advances in industrial exoskeleton development with a focus on the performance of these technologies in reducing body effort during manual work. Hear about opportunities and challenges for the technologies, especially in relation to user centered design and technology acceptance.
About the presenters
Dominic Le Roux (Chair) is a qualified Ergonomist and currently works with businesses across multiple industries within Namibia. Her career started off in 2009 working on orthopaedic rehabilitation of athletes and in 2016 she shifted to injury prevention and monitoring. Personal highlights include her work with Namibia Cycling at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and with Namibia Rugby at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Leonard O’Sullivan is Professor of Human Factors and Ergonomics in the School of Design at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He is director of the Design Factors Research Group which has experience in user centered design on several European research projects in relation to exoskeleton development and assessment. He was a member of the European Cost Action initiative on Wearable Robotics which developed a roadmap regarding industrial exoskeleton technology future needs and opportunities.
