NC State Designs New Handle To Make Lifting Infant Car Seats Safer, Easier

Engineers at North Carolina State University have developed a new handle for infant car seats (ICSs) that makes it easier for parents to lift the seat out of a car – while retaining a firmer grip on the handle – making it less likely that the seat will be dropped.

“Many products that are designed for parents don’t take ergonomics into account, and the instructions are usually not very helpful,” says Michael Clamann, a Ph.D. student at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. “We wanted to see whether, by changing the angle of the ICS handle, we could make it easier on parents and safer for the baby. Our idea was that it would be easier to hold on to the seat, minimizing the risk of dropping it.” The idea was inspired by Clamann’s experiences as a parent.

研究人员将他们的新手柄设计基于现有研究，这些研究细节会减少“尺骨偏差”，或者您的手腕弯曲程度以及腕管中的相关压力。这在举起任务方面很重要，因为弯曲手腕越远，握力越弱。

研究人员测试了新设计与传统IC的处理方法，其身高相似的10名不同的女性（身高5％至20％）。要求参与者将汽车座椅从模型的中型轿车中抬出，然后将其放入婴儿车。

The team used sensors to measure muscular activity at the forearm and biceps and the wrist angle of the participants as they lifted the ICSs with different handle designs.

克拉曼说：“我们的角度的手柄使人们可以更好地将自己定位在汽车座椅上，并让他们比前臂肌肉更多地使用二头肌。这是一个改进，因为我们的二头肌比我们的前臂强，因此可以更好地承受重量。这对于较小的女性提升ICS尤其重要。”参与者还告诉研究人员，倾斜的手柄设计更容易举起。

The team also tested to see how foot placement – in the car or on the ground – affected the participants’ posture – and therefore their wrist angle. Such foot placement was previously recommended in the popular press literature regarding ICS handling.

北卡罗来纳州州立大学毕业生金利·泰勒（Kinley Taylor）说：“我们发现，将脚放在汽车上以帮助提升ICS，使参与者能够更多地使用二头肌，并减少了他们的手腕弯曲的程度 - 给他们更牢固地抓住ICS。”和纸的合着者。克拉曼补充说：“但是，将脚放在汽车上也增加了撞到门框的可能性。”

研究人员计划继续进行额外的努力，以查看在倾斜手柄设计上的变化如何影响人体工程学，例如在不同的汽车设计中，例如小型货车，以及比本研究参与者高得多的人。

The paper, “Comparison of infant car seat grip orientations and lift strategies,” is published online inApplied Ergonomics。该论文由以下合着：Clamann；泰勒；北卡罗来纳州工业与系统工程教授兼职业安全与人体工程学计划主任戴维·卡贝（David Kaber）博士；以及前北卡罗来纳州立大学的学生利亚·比弗（Leah Beaver）和比文（Biwen Zhu）博士。该研究得到了美国国家职业安全与健康研究所的部分支持。

NC State’s Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is part of the university’s College of Engineering.

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请注意to Editors:The study abstract follows.

“Comparison of infant car seat grip orientations and lift strategies”

Authors：迈克尔·克拉曼（Michael Clamann

Published:在线,Applied Ergonomics

Abstract:The rear-facing Infant Car Seat (ICS) is designed to meet federal requirements for transporting children less than 1 year old. Typical use includes transfer in and out of a vehicle, which is shown to be a difficult lift. Despite the frequency of this lift, manufacturers provide little guidance for users. Review of relevant literature suggested an ICS featuring an angled handle, promoting a neutral wrist posture, would increase grip stability and decrease lifting effort. Popular press suggested a foot-in-car stance for the ICS lift would do the same. An experiment was conducted in which wrist deviations from neutral posture were recorded along with lifting muscle activation levels (multiple flexor muscles and biceps brachii) and overall perceived exertion for straight versus a new bent handle design and conventional stance versus foot-in-car. Foot position was examined to test the recommendations in the popular press. Surprisingly, wrist deviation was not significantly affected by the new bent handle design (due to compensatory behavior with the straight handle) but was related to foot placement (p = 0.04). Results revealed the bent handle to significantly reduce flexor activation compared with the straight handle (p = 0.0003); however, the level of biceps activation increased. Biceps activation also significantly increased for foot-in-car stance (p = 0.035) but not flexor activation. In general, the bent handle enabled the user to lift the ICS with a steadier grip and less effort.