Garrett Brown, the man behind Hollywood’s Steadicam, is looking to bring a little upgrade to manufacturing. Brown has partnered with Eric Golden’s LA-based Equipois to help release the “zeroG”, a new type of mechanical arm that could reduce manufacturers’ health care costs by up to $13 billion annually.

Spawned from a conversation with a Honda engineer who liked the idea of a Steadicam mechanism on the factory floor, the zeroG is crafted from high-grade aluminum and steel and helps minimize overexertion by using simple physics. Each arm is fitted with spring that counterbalances the weight of heavy tools, which in turn makes the tools “lighter” and easier to use.

Maneuverability has also been taken into account; the zeroG’s gimbal mechanism means tools can be used to their full capacity even when being held by the arm.

Equipois’s Eric Golden explains it like this: “The actions cancel each other out…When the arm holding the tool moves, the position of the end of the spring changes to compensate for the movement. That’s 20 pounds of lift on a 20-pound tool, no matter where it’s positioned…You can have something that weighs 25 pounds and move it with your fingertips, as if you’re in space.”At a cost of $10,000 for the larger arm ($5,000 for the smaller unit), Equipois has found serious interest from serious clients like Boeing, Ford, and the United States Navy.

Allison Stephens, an assembly ergonomics specialist working for the Blue Oval, says, “Because it uses no electricity — just springs — it’s actually much cheaper than our current method of tool support…We selected jobs that had difficulties because of heavy tools, and operators who had medical visits because of that. We’ve seen some great results — no injuries when the arms are used. We are going to incorporate it into our engineering strategy.”

With the economy slowly getting back on its feet and a number of positive responses, Equipois hopes more people will come to see the benefits and invest in the zeroG. If its current client base is any indication, this may just be the next low-tech big thing in the world of manufacturing.

By Phil Alex

Sources:Equipoisinc & CNN

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