Summary of Innovation
Mitigating back injuries is a major workplace safety challenge that plagues a multitude of industries. Occupational back pain ranks as the most frequent injury, with more than one million workers suffering back injuries annually. This results in an economic burden of more than $100 billion per year in the US, as tracked by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Verve Motion’s SafeLift exosuit is the world’s first soft exosuit offering tailored, adaptive assistance that is customized for each worker and task. Spun out of Harvard University's Biodesign Lab and invented by a team of scientists, engineers, and athletic apparel designers, it is a lightweight wearable solution that combines real-time motion sensing with robotic assistance. Its comfortable form factor, which wears like a backpack, is designed to power and protect industrial workers. The solution alleviates about 40% of the strain on a worker’s back during a typical workday by providing assistance in parallel with their underlying muscles. SafeLift exosuit includes a cloud platform with motion-based sensors for automatic detection of risky movements like excessive bending and twisting. The software not only improves injury prevention through coaching but also promotes ergonomic enhancements in the workplace.
Innovation Statement
SafeLift exosuit is designed to power the human workplace by spearheading the next generation of wearable technology for industrial workers that significantly diminishes the risk of back injury and fatigue, while enhancing facility productivity, and fostering employee retention.
Applicability
Verve Motion's game-changing soft exosuits have successfully enabled American workers to lift over 300 million pounds, reducing lower back and hip injuries by up to 85% through the implementation of SafeLift, while simultaneously boosting productivity by 3-7%, and fostering positive impacts on worker retention and recruitment across diverse industries such as grocery, package distribution, third-party logistics, retail, supply chain distribution, and manufacturing.
| Posted Date | 1/17/24 |
| Contact | Andrew Clark |
| Contact Email | andrew.clark[at]vervemotion.com |
| Category | Best Innovation of an Existing Product |