Ergonomic Design of Battery-Assisted Hand-Held Pineapple Leaves Pruner for Drudgery Reduction

A hand-held long-handled pineapple leaves pruner was designed and fabricated to reduce drudgery to the farmers cultivating pineapples. The pruner was designed considering the anthropometric data of the farmers. The pruner is light in weight, and it uses two pruning knives operated by a battery to reduce the manual force required for traditional pruning using dao (machete). Performance of the designed pruner was evaluated. Analysis showed that the designed pruner has the potential to reduce low back pain by reducing forward bending of the body, and therefore, it may reduce workers’ discomfort and increase productivity.