Aiming to bring together business leaders and safety innovators to achieve its mission of preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders, the National Safety Council MSD Solutions Lab presented the winners of its inaugural Safety Innovation Challenge during the Closing Keynote of the 2022 NSC Safety Congress & Expo.

The challenge was conducted Wednesday in partnership with Safetytech Accelerator, a nonprofit organization that has a mission to make the world safer and more sustainable through technology. Six technology firms were chosen as winners to showcase and demo their new MSD solutions – aimed at risk prevention and elimination – at the annual NSC event. They were:
Effidence: EffiBOT, the autonomous mobile robot pioneered by Effidence, is designed to improve logistics performance in factories and warehouses by serving as an automated handling assistant. In addition to helping workers lift heavy materials, the collaborative robot is equipped with a leading navigation system to transport items across various workstations.
Extend Robotics: The London-based company couples advanced robotics and virtual reality to provide organizations with a revolutionary approach to workplace automation: teleoperated commercial robots. Along with removing employees from potentially hazardous situations, the intuitive, easy-to-operate technology enables employers to scale operations more efficiently.
HeroWear: Created in 2018, HeroWear’s battery-free Apex Exosuit is designed to address the many limitations employers and workers report with traditional exoskeletons, which are an MSD solution for many employers. In addition to being lightweight for workers and affordable for businesses of all sizes, the exosuit is one of the first to be offered in women’s sizes.
Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR): Along with assuming heavy lifting duties to reduce the risk of injury to workers, the company’s robots are designed to make autonomous deliveries, enabling employees to focus on higher value activities within the organization. Since launching in 2013, MiR products have been successfully used in manufacturing facilities, logistics centers and hospitals around the world.
TuMeke Ergonomics: This company offers an omnichannel platform that leverages computer vision and artificial intelligence to evaluate workers’ posture and joint positions while tracking their ergonomic risk factors over time, providing employers with a more organized, comprehensive risk assessment.
WearKinetic: WearKinetic is a wearable motion sensor designed to detect improper bending, overreaching and twisting. It delivers haptic feedback to workers to prevent hazardous movements while also aggregating companywide data to help employers make more informed safety decisions.

MSDs “don’t just go away at the end of a shift,” MSD Solutions Lab Director Corinne Towler said. “They prevent people from doing everyday things like unpacking a cart of groceries, gardening or walking their dog without feeling pain.

“This is precisely what we’re changing at the MSD Solutions Lab.”