PPRT- Jing Yang & Denny Yu

2021-2022 PPRT Project

Design of Computer-Vision Based System for Immediate Multi-Person Ergonomics Assessment in Veterinary Practice

Research Trainee: Jing Yang, PhD Student, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

Principal Investigator: Denny Yu, Assistant Professor, School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

Co-Principal Investigator: Sun Young Kim, Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Purdue University

Jing Yang, Research Trainee

Denny Yu, PhD, Principal Investigator

Compared with other occupations, veterinary medicine and animal care (VMAC) has the 2nd highest incidence rate for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses1. However, limited  work has been done to understand and address the unique contributors to injuries in VMAC. Despite the availability of observer-based checklists and sensor-based techniques, they may not best approaches for ergonomic risk factors assessment due to their interference with workflow. To have an easy- to-use, accurate, and efficient ergonomic risk assessment in real-world operational environments, several research gaps need to be addressed; specifically, 1) non-intrusive techniques for continuous work ergonomics assessment and 2) intervention tools to engage current VMAC workers on the already-present injury risk factors in the workplace. To fill the gap in this field, we propose a novel ergonomic risk management tool using computer vision that performs robust, constant, and automatic ergonomic assessment for multiple veterinary practitioners, either individually or collectively, under challenging acquisition conditions without the need for wearables.

Publications

1.      Yang, J., Kim, S. Y., & Yu, D. (2022). Design of Computer-vision Based System for Multi-person Ergonomics Assessment in Veterinary Practice – A Pilot Study. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 66(1), 2182–2182. https://doi.org/10.1177/107118132266124715459624.2023.2179060

2023 ERC Regional Symposium Poster Session

PPRT Director:

Adam M. Finkel, Sc. D., CIH
Clinical Professor of Environmental Health Sciences

adfinkel@umich.edu