Date of Award
6-18-2021
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.Sc.
Department
Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering
Keywords
automated posture assessment system, deep learning algorithm, musculoskeletal injuries, RULA
Supervisor
Eunsik Kim
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop an automated, RULA-based posture assessment system using a deep learning algorithm to estimate RULA scores, including scores for wrist posture, based on images of workplace postures. The proposed posture estimation system reported a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.86 on the validation dataset obtained by randomly splitting 20% of the original training dataset before data augmentation. The results of the proposed system were compared with those of two experts’ manual evaluation by computing the Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), which yielded index values greater than 0.75, thereby confirming good agreement between manual raters and the proposed system. This system will reduce the time required for postural evaluation while producing highly reliable RULA scores that are consistent with those generated by manual approach. Thus, we expect that this study will aid ergonomic experts in conducting RULA-based surveys of occupational postures in workplace conditions.
Recommended Citation
Nayak, Gourav Kumar, "The development of fully automated RULA assessment system based on Computer Vision" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 8608.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/8608