Those who have tried it are enthusiastic about it. And it is certain that it will be able to revolutionize the harvesting system in those olive groves where – due to the morphological characteristics of the land (for example sloping), by type of plant or simply by the olive grower's choice – harvesters are used instead of mechanical shakers.
It 'sexoskeleton presented a Chiusavecchia (Im) in Liguria, which – for those unfamiliar with robotic engineering terms – essentially means this: an olive harvester hooked, through a device, to a sort of backpack where the weight of the implement is unloaded, without therefore being compromised shoulders and especially back. Equipped with an extension, it can even reach 5 meters in height, eliminating those musculoskeletal disorders which are the most important problems in those who pick olives.
The exoskeleton is a technology that was born in modern automobile assembly lines and which, through this project, was intended to be transferred to olive-growing operations thanks to a prototype made by Cipat (Professional Instruction and Technical Assistance Center of the CIA) together withUniversity of Genoa and some private companies, supported with the resources of the Ligurian Psr.
"Reduce fatigue, increase productivity and preserve the health of the olive grower these are the objectives that the exoskeleton allows to achieve” he underlined Riccardo Giordano of Cipat in the presentation of this latest version of the prototype – ten versions previously tested – which will soon be marketed (The estimated cost is 600 euros).
“We followed all the indications that arose from the experience of the olive blast chiller – added the prof. Marco Testa of the University of Genoa – . We first carried out a survey on the problems that were manifested by farmers, trying to classify the most important ones. Then we went through the analysis of the gesture, in the context of the olive harvest, to identify those which were the most risky gestures for the operators and on the basis of this, with the collaboration of the engineers, we developed a series of strategies for decrease the loads that are recorded at the musculoskeletal level".
It came out un robotic device which optimizes the working gestures, reducing the impact on the olive grower's back, through a sort of jacket to put on the shoulder and connected to a box where the harvester is positioned which moves with the hands to reach the branch where to shake the olives, but without the weight of the instrument falling on the shoulders or back.
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