Design of human-powered hybrid electric-power shovel for deep excavation

There are still a lot of high-load physical works which can't be substituted by machine, such as clearing snow, removing sediment under floor and volcanic ashes, where a large-sized machine cannot be used or where human resources and electric power were short on occasions of emergency. Therefore, authors address to design a device for those situation. Authors focus on unique approach of "human-powered hybrid" method combining merits of human-power and machine-power. In this paper, we made this approach clear as a design method, which suggest 3 policies: choose a heavy equipment suitable to targeted work, apply human-power to each work process, and consider usability. And we apply these policies to new device for removing earth-and-sand under floor as a specific situation. Then we designed and constructed it that can excavate while switching human-power or machine-power. Users can operate it semi-automatically without pre-training, and can operate it in safety not to fall over by incorporating mechanical and electrical structures. Finally, we conducted performance experiments and confirmed that the device could work efficiently not only with human-power but also with machine-power.