Ergonomic assessment of conventional and mechanical methods of cotton picking

The conventional hand picking and mechanical (battery operated manual hand picker) methods of picking cotton were assessed to know the drudgery involved so that improvements can be made in both the methods. The parameters for ergonomic assessment were working heart rate, energy expenditure, muscular fatigue, postural analysis and drudgery scores on five point scale. There was significant reduction in all the parameters including drudgery scores when activity was performed with Battery operated manual hand picker besides increase in picking efficiency as compared to when picking was done with hands.