Spectrum News highlighted a new research project at the University of Cincinnati designed to leverage the latest digital tools to improve worker safety in Ohio.
UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science received a $1.4 million grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to develop demonstration projects to improve the safety of workers around autonomous robots that are becoming more ubiquitous at warehouses and other workplaces.
Professors Sam Anand and Manish Kumar in UC's Industry 4.0/5.0 Institute are using tools such as "digital twins" that provide computer models and simulations of real workplaces to study safety and efficiency.
Anand and his students in UC's Smart Manufacturing Lab deploy generative artificial intelligence to predict human motion in manufacturing. This could be as simple as watching how workers lift objects or navigate their workspace.
"If you do something in the wrong way, it may not cause injuries at the moment, but after six months to a year it could cause serious pain to your body," UC doctoral student Dorsa Rezayat told Spectrum News.
"This will have an effect on the bottom line of industries to make them more productive and cost effective and have healthy workers," Anand told Spectrum News.
The state agency also awarded a grant to UC to help develop smart hard hats.
Mechanical engineering Professor Jing Shi said they are investigating new energy-absorbing materials that can be used as hard hat liners to reduce injury caused by blows to the head. And embedded sensors in the hard hats can help workers and their employers tell whether they should seek medical attention for a concussion or other head or neck injury after a head impact.
Featured image at top: UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Professor Sam Anand talks to Spectrum News about his project to improve worker safety in Ohio. Photo/Spectrum News
