Design Challenge - September 2009

Alberto Seco

The WearEXable compact wearable excavator is conceived as a system that acts as an extension of the operator’s body. This biomechanical vehicle is controlled with minimum effort by the operator who wears it, and the motion of the excavation equipment and the walker system are directly linked to the movements of his arms/hands and legs/feet.

The ‘fork’ frame is the core of the concept as it is also the base for the transport system and a safety feature (ROPS) that offers protection to the operator in the event of a rollover.

The undercarriage consists of two legs and two dozer blades that carry out functions for the Transport and the Excavation modes.

Transport mode

The walker system consists of two legs controlled by the movement of the operator’s legs and feet. These legs slide on two treads of gears placed on the fork frame and are activated by the operator’s legs. Movement is therefore mainly carried out via the operator’s legs and feet. The movement of his legs provides the motion of each machine leg forwards and backwards, and these legs are unfolded or spread by the movement of the operator’s feet around the heels. Therefore, by means of the wedge-shaped pedals that wrap the feet, ‘toes up’ unfolds the machine legs and ‘sole down’ folds them.

Sensors on the operator’s legs send the muscles’ reactions to be interpreted by the machine and to carry out further corrections on sudden movements.
Additional side stability for transport is provided by a counterweight placed at the top of the ‘fork’ frame that can slide slightly to the right or left.

Excavation mode

To carry out excavation duties, the operator raises/folds the legs while the two dozer blades descend. This way the two dozer blades form the base for the swivelling of the machine and the legs swivel with the frame/car body. This swivelling on the dozers is similar to the system once used by Pingon excavators, where wheels swivelled with the car body.

The possibility of moving the blades independently converts the machine into a hillside compact excavator. By lowering the dozer blades at different heights, this system is able to place the machine horizontally on slopes or uneven ground in order to offer extra safety and improve operator comfort.

Excavation equipment controls

The controls to move the car body/boom/stick/bucket form a very intuitive interface between the operator and the excavation equipment. The right-hand-side control acts directly on the boom movement. When the operator moves that arm forwards, the boom goes down; if it moves rearwards, the boom rises. The handle also has an axial movement (similar to the throttle on a motorbike) to control the movements of the bucket.

The left-hand-side control or ‘swan neck’ pivots around a ‘spherical’ connection linked to the frame. The operator controls the swivelling movement with the side movement of the left elbow, and moving the whole swan neck forwards and backwards moves the stick.

It is a simple and direct system as the movements of the arms/hands are directly related to the movement of the excavation equipment.

Minimum discomfort, maximum efficiency

Ergonomics play an important role in this concept because all the parts – not just the controls – have been designed according to the wearability of the machine by the operator. 

The rounded shape of the boom and the stick attends to guidelines of visibility from the operator location. These rounded sections are painted black in order to eliminate reflections on the operator.

The seat that extends towards and covers the bonnet can be adapted to the operator’s size and requirements from the thighs to the shoulders.

The glasses of the helmet provide all the information normally displayed on the dashboard of a conventional machine.

The look

General styling is based on two aspects:

• Organic shapes related to the living beings and the nature. Because it would be a biomechanical machine, the aim was to conceive the machine as an extension of the human being, not only in terms of function but also of style. In fact, appearance could be compared to a flamingo or an ostrich.

• Colour scheme according to typical liveries of power tools. The idea was to approach a colour language related to tools controlled by hand, to a machine directly operated by hands.

However, one disadvantage is that the operator cannot take a drink while he works with the wearEXable digger!

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: albsec@euskalnet.net

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