Objective
Non powered hand tools constitute an important element of
work and production systems. Hand tools are typically
used in most jobs performed by the human operator. The
demand for continuous improvement and increased
ergonomics knowledge creates the need for hand tools that
are suitable for the required purpose. The use of poorly
designed hand tools has lead to serious increase of
occupational disorders, such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
and other kinds of Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTD).
These problems yearly cause great human suffering and
economical losses Europewide due to required sick leaves,
rehabilitation, medical care, compensations and premature
pensions. Poorly designed hand tools cause an unnecessary
workload and a decrease in productivity. Hand tools are
also widely used during leisure time in activities such
as gardening and construction. There is a growing
awareness in industry in this respect. In North America
and Scandinavia, ergonomics in tool design has become one
of the major selling arguments. This implies growing
dynamic markets for improved standard tools, and for new
categories of specialised tools.
There is an urgent need to improve hand tool product
design, while simultaneously making the process of
developing and evaluating new prototypes more efficient.
At present the process of testing new prototypes both in
the laboratory and in the field is time consuming and
expensive. The methodologies are also undeveloped.
The main objectives of this project are to improve the
effectiveness, ergonomic quality and application areas of
non powered hand tools, and to improve the productivity
of work done using them. These objectives will be reached
by improving the hand tool mechanisms and design,
developing better and faster evaluation methods for hand
tool ergonomics and developing better hand tool oriented
work analysis methods. Practical application will
concentrate on cutting hand tools used in wine harvesting
and the tending of grapevines.
The main innovations of this project include the new
ergonomically oriented approach for hand tool design in
which the design process is continuously directed toward
ergonomic end products during different stages of design.
It will also enhance the quality of the design process
and give an example of a concurrent engineering approach.
The new methods for rapid evaluation and testing of non
powered hand tools will be a sufficient and easy for hand
tool manufactures to evaluate their tool prototypes. The
hand tool oriented work analysis method will give experts
new and better tools to analyse tasks involving the use
of hand held non powered tools. Advanced force
transmission mechanisms will improve the efficiency and
user friendliness of tools, and in some cases they can
substitute power driven tools thus decreasing tool and
energy costs. These mechanisms will give European tool
manufacturers possibilities to develop a new generation
of hand tools and thus gain remarkable market advances.
The application in this project will create prototypes of
hand tools tailored for wine harvesting and the tending
of grapevines. This and the created work analysis method
can lead to improved and more efficient work in the
vineyards, both on the side of work practices and tools
used. For the end users of non powered hand tools the
project in the future will give better and more
ergonomically designed hand tools and remove unnecessary
physical load, thus decreasing occupational and free time
musculoskeletal disorders. The CD ROM and Internet based
applications created in the project will collect the
existing state of the art and knowledge gained in this
project. It will be used to disseminate the results and
can also be used by tool purchasers, designers,
manufacturers and educational institutes as reference
material and guide to design, evaluate and select hand
tools for different tasks.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture viticulture
- natural sciences computer and information sciences internet
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine physiotherapy
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- social sciences psychology ergonomics
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
33101 Tampere
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.