Michael Holmes is determined to make work a safer place by studying how people sit, stand and use their muscles on the job.<\/p>\n
To do that, however, the assistant professor in Brock University\u2019s Department of Kinesiology needs high-tech machines to help him track muscle activity and body movements.<\/p>\n
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced Tuesday it has awarded Holmes a grant of nearly $100,000 for equipment purchases from its John R. Evans Leaders Fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe equipment is fundamental to everything we do, so the John R. Evans Leaders Fund is a really important program,\u201d Holmes says. \u201cThere are very few funding avenues in Canada that allow you to purchase large, expensive pieces of equipment. I\u2019m very thankful for this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the money, Holmes will be purchasing three sophisticated devices and some smaller equipment to create the new Neuromechanics and Ergonomics Lab at Brock.<\/p>\n
Among the equipment is a motion capture system. Similar to what\u2019s used in the development of gaming, animation and cinema, nearly a dozen cameras will record research participants\u2019 postures and body movements as they perform a variety of simulated workplace tasks.<\/p>\n
But these are no ordinary cameras, says Holmes.<\/p>\n
Infrared light emitted from the cameras is picked up by small reflective markers on the person.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe camera will pick up the motion of those markers, and will record the movement of the markers, not the person,\u201d he says. \u201cOn the computer screen, we can track the 3D location of the markers on the person, and link them together, so it looks like a stick figure. We can then very accurately calculate movements and joint angles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another piece of equipment is the haptic wrist robot, a one-of-a-kind device that is unique to Canada. Similar to a joystick, the device pushes back when a person tries to move it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis allows us to look at how the forearm muscles control the hand,\u201d says Holmes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like when you\u2019re holding a power tool and you have to control feedback from the tool in all directions to counteract the imbalance. This requires muscular control and using such a device will allow us to better understand how fatigue, pain and\/or injury influence performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research has applications for pilots having to control joysticks, surgeons, dentists and others who regularly hold tools for their jobs.<\/p>\n
The third piece of equipment is an electromyography system, or EMG, which evaluates and records electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis helps us to understand how the muscles generate the movements captured by our cameras,\u201d says Holmes. \u201cAs we contract a muscle, the muscle emits electrical activity. The EMG sensors will pick up that activity; we can then determine not only how hard a certain muscle works, but what muscles are being used at what times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holmes explains the combination of the three machines will give him and his research team a complete picture of workplace movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll understand what the muscles do, how people move and what sort of forces they\u2019re interacting with.\u201d<\/p>\n
This knowledge, in turn, can be used to better design workplace tools and objects, or change workstations so that workers \u201cinteract with the tools differently\u201d to prevent workplace injuries, he says.<\/p>\n