Application of Paper-Based Wearable Electronics (PBWE) for Objective Assessment of Fatigue in Lower Back of Construction Workers
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Wearable sensors proposed to measure fatigue in construction have shortcomings such as cumbersome size, high cost, flexibility, and high noise-to-amplitude ratio. Hence, this article demonstrates the use of inexpensive paper-based wearable electronics (PBWE) for predicting fatigue in the lower back of construction workers without compromising skin breathability or the natural motions of the wearer and with a low noise-to-amplitude ratio. Five subjects were recruited to participate in a simulated manual lifting activity in the form of a repetitive lifting task while measuring their physiological conditions using paper-based wearable electronics, EMG, and off-the-shelf optical heart rate monitors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed for this study. The BORG scale was also used to assess the fatigue level of the participants subjectively. The noise-to-amplitude ratio of the paper-based wearable electronics (PBWE) was significantly lower than that of the EMG by about 4.5 times. The analysis produced p-values less than 0.05, implying a significant change in the fatigue level after carrying out the repetitive lifting task from the base value. The findings imply that paper-based wearable electronics are portable and reliable devices that can predict physical fatigue and have excellent potential to improve the safety of construction workers on a construction site.
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Published In
Construction Research Congress 2024
Pages: 832 - 842
History
Published online: Mar 18, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Construction costs
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Construction sites
- Employment
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Equipment and machinery
- Fatigue (material)
- Labor
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Noise pollution
- Occupational safety
- Personnel management
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Probe instruments
- Project management
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Safety
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