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Co-adaptation of Intelligent Office Desks and Human Users to Promote Worker Productivity, Health and Wellness

Health Core ⟩ MSOP Lab ⟩

In the U.S., there are 81 million office workers who spend 75% or more of their day working at a desk. Unfortunately, increased daily sitting time is linked to significant health conditions, including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Multiple other health-related issues arise in these workers due to poor ergonomic habits. Health conditions are further exacerbated by building-level control of environmental conditions. Our team envisions the emergence of a genuine partnership and coevolution of workers and their workstations. Specifically, we will design an intelligent workstation that learns worker preferences and patterns. Together, the Machine and Human will coevolve through an ongoing, bidirectional process of sensing, feedback and learning to adjust postural, thermal and visual conditions at the workstation and moderate poor behaviors. Several important research challenges will be addressed by the proposed work: (1) machine learning of user preferences, habits and patterns, (2) identification of shared objectives and supportive actions and (3) establishing machine-human symbiosis to take actions that progress toward best practices (e.g., healthiest).

Funding

Type	Source	Number	Amount
Federal	National Science Foundation; Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation	CMMI-1763134	$687,100

USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
1540 Alcazar Street, CHP 133, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9003

ACOTE accreditation | NBCOT certification

The USC entry-level master’s degree program (cost of attendance) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education® (ACOTE®) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). The USC entry-level doctorate in occupational therapy (OTD) degree program (cost of attendance) is accredited by ACOTE®. View our program’s ACOTE® standards public data. ACOTE® c/o the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.®, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 510E, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 652-AOTA, www.acoteonline.org.

Professional program graduates are eligible to apply for the national certification examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.® (NBCOT®), nbcot.org. All states require licensure to practice; a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT® OTR certification examination or attain state licensure. Program results from the NBCOT® can be found online at www.nbcot.org/Educators-Folder/SchoolPerformance.