DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF GRASS-CARRYING AID PROTOTYPE FOR COW FARMERS

• Main Author: LUH PUTU LILIS SINTA SETIAWATI NIM 13414004, NI
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/29644
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Grass-carrying activities are the primary work that cow farmers must do. Therefore, many cow farmers complain of pain in the shoulders, back, and waist. These include those that cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The main cause of these complain is grass-carrying activities which requires the farmers to hunch their body to maintain balance because they only use one shoulder to restrain the load. This issues encourage a research aimed at designing prototypes of grass-carrying aids and evaluating the prototype. The prototype was designed through design thinking which includes four stages: emphatize, define, ideate, and prototype. Meanwhile, the prototype evaluation was conducted in the fifth stage of design thinking, i.e. tests conducted through laboratory experiments. The experiment involved 12 respondents who met the criteria and there are two independent variables i.e. tool type (backpack frame and shawl fabric) and weight of load (15 kg and 5 kg). The methods used to evaluate the prototype are posture analysis, electromyography (EMG), rating of perceived discomfort (RPD) questionnaire, and the activities-specific balance confidence (ABC) scale. <br /> <br /> The results obtained in the study is a grass-carrying aid that design by combining the initial concept of mountaineering backpacks, carrying aid, and early military backpack. This prototype has two components: frames and sling. The frame components are made to accommodate varying capacities and are made with ferrous materials to ensure the strength. While the sling accommodate the user's comfort with the addition of paddings on the shoulders, back, and waist. In addition, the sling strap can also be adjusted to fit the user. Evaluation by posture analysis shows that the craniohorizontal angle decreases as the weight of the load increases on the use of the shawl fabric. Meanwhile, the craniovertebral angle also decreases as the weight of the load increases, but on the use of the backpack frame shows a larger angle than the shawl fabric. This means that the use of a backpack frame leads to a smaller forward head posture than the use shawl fabric. Backpack frame also resulted in a smaller muscle contraction in the left lower trapezius (15 kg) as well as the left and right erector spinae (5 kg), therefore grass-carrying activities using backpack frame was thought to require less energy than the shawl fabric. Meanwhile, in the RPD questionnaire the lower discomfort level was shown on right shoulder (15 kg) and right back (5 kg) for the use of backpack frame, but showed higher discomfort levels on the left shoulder (15 and 5 kg) and right waist (15 kg) than the shawl fabric. The heavier the load given the higher the level of discomfort generated. In the ABC scale questionnaire, the use of backpacks provides a higher level of confidence over the balance of respondents when transporting 15 kg of grass while up and down the stairs, while the higher weight gives the lower confidence. In conclusion, the prototype of a grass-carrying aid in the form of backpack frame provides better performance in almost all of the evaluation methods and the heavier the load carried on resulting in decreasing performance of the respondents.