IMHO the most frustrating part about moving is having to carry stuff like dumbbells, counterweights etc, because they have only purpose: Being as heavy as possible.
I think the technique this is trying to replace is, 'Cranes and forklift trucks haven't the flexibility for this task? Then the workers will just have to lift the 30kg pieces of metal into place by hand. Some of them end up wrecking their backs after a few years on the job? Oh well, sucks to be them.'
In healthcare and there's very explicit rules about how one is to approach, lift and transfer or roll patients, who weigh more than the staff attending to them. Even including a count of staff-per-weight ratio. Sadly, I imagine if one took the same precautions in construction, you'd be told to hurry tf up and you're on your own.
It involves a couple of cranes and a lot of moving stuff that's too light to justify bringing the crane over but still seriously heavy, at least where I was (Italy).
Right. That was sort of my point, I understand it is useful to consistently lift and move heavy stiff without fatiguing oneself. I think if you were to improve it to say, 250kg it would fit a lot more usecases. Overengineering, in my opinion, would be asking for an iron man suit.
Alot of loads they carry can become completely impossible for human physiology to carry by having to extend any weight too far from your body. Or pieces of material that weigh above 150kg. No safety intstruction can prevent guys from hoisting that up on their own if it needs to be done in order to continue working. That in addition to lots of chemicals, sprays, fiberglass and dust in the air makes it a health nightmare.
When you get above a few kilograms there's also a biomechanical issue - the same reason the world record for clean and jerk is much higher than the world record for bicep curls, despite moving the weight a lot further.
Lifting something from waist height to chin height quickly, using big leg muscles to give it momentum, is easier than lifting it slowly using only arm muscles.
And nobody lifting 10kg trash bags for 8 hours a day is doing it the difficult way :)
Stonehenge. Etc. Regardless of how, BIG things were being moved.
Also, and perhaps more importantly, the weight and difficulty of a body is a function of the number of people trying to carry it. One person carrying a single body might be a struggle.
But five, ten or twenty people? That wouldn't be a struggle.
This was not an opinion about the machine or industry. I asked why the forces are necessary exactly because I don't know that part.
I disagree with the response about the pin weight, because I've got enough clue about mechanics and safety to know it's very unlikely to be a full explanation. The lifting happens either on a conveyor or the lift/harness. We have existing systems that can ensure you don't crush people with the weight itself this way. The dangerousness may come from different parts like higher torque motors, or exposed parts, or programming issues, or ... So feel free to comment on that if you know the answer.
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