Studies show that heavy-machinery and truck operators are at high risk of suffering back pain and other musculoskeletal injuries due to steady exposure to whole-body vibration.
In 2018, there were close to 5 million operators of heavy machinery, trucks and buses in the US alone. The estimated cost for back pain for each operator can exceed $2,000 per year, which can translate into tens of millions in healthcare costs to the heavy-machinery sector.
Most existing seats in heavy machinery are passive and are not effective in reducing vibration transmitted to the operator in the low frequency range.
The state-of-art seats with active and semi-active seats can provide more-effective vibration mitigation but are unaffordable for most users. Supported by the National Science Foundation, ActiBioMotion, LLC demonstrated the feasibility of a novel family of quasi-semi-active seat (QSAS) technologies that will significantly mitigate transmitted vibration in the low-frequency range—similar to semi-active seats but with a price similar to passive seats.
The steps to bring the QSAS from the feasibility stage to the commercial stage are currently underway.