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Aug 2915 min read

Beyond Chairs and Keyboards: The Surprising Future of Ergonomics

Updated: Sep 25


In this episode, we explore an expansive view of ergonomics. Join us as we uncover the hidden "left-handed tax" and its surprising economic impact. We also consider some mind- (and finger-) bending human augmentation technologies. But it's not all physical–we also discuss emotional ergonomics and how it's reshaping our daily interactions, including an example from one of our favorite places, the public library. Tune in for a glimpse into a more inclusive, emotionally aware, and adaptive future via ergonomic design.





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Episode Transcript:

Raakhee: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.


[0:40]


Hello and welcome to another edition of Signal Shift. And today we're talking about ergonomics. Now, ergonomics, also called human factors or human factors engineering, is something you might have heard of, particularly in the workplace. It might have come up for you at some point. But what it is, is the application of physiological and psychological principles to the design and creation of products, environment, systems, even processes. It can be applied to all of these things. 


Technically, a lot of what we have already covered across many episodes actually fits in here, right? From exoskeletons to sensors. All of these things could fall under the arena of ergonomics. And then things like leaving your phones at home, or particularly for kids, like leaving their phones at home while they go to school, is an extended application of this. It's rethinking how we design what we take with us and what we keep to achieve the things we need to in different spaces.


So, you know, there's a lot you could talk about under ergonomics. So I'm very curious to see what may hold your interest, Sue and Lana, in this space and what you have to share with us today. And yeah, with this, I will kind of get us started. So who wants to share first?


[2:06]


Sue: This is Sue. I am very excited to share my signal today, because it is something very near and dear to my heart, and it's about being left-handed and ergonomics. So I am left-handed. And actually, we just celebrated International Left-Handers Day on August 13th. So I thought, oh, great timing. I'm going to find all these amazing signals about how ergonomics is improving for left-handed people. There was nothing. It took me so long to look at this topic, and I was dismayed, and I was convinced, like, I'm going to find something. 


Because really, you know, the last survey that was done globally, 10% of the global population report as being left-handed. And actually, in the United States, it's even higher. So, you know, I thought, well, certainly there's got to be something, because I can't tell you how many times a day I think about my left-handedness.


I'm calling it like a “left-handed tax.” I don't know if that's actually a thing, but there's a mental tax from, like, you know, the Reddit feed on the International Left-Handed Day was like pictures of everybody writing and all the ink stains. On your hand, but, like, it's from that, from, like, where you're sitting at the dinner table, things like that. And then there's actually pretty much an economic tax, too, because, you know, you have to find left-handed tools that are just expensive. They're more expensive. They're harder to find, or you have to special order it. 


And actually, the Harvard Kennedy School produced a paper that said left-handed people earn 10% to 12% less than their right-handed counterparts for a variety of reasons. I thought that was very surprising. I didn't know that.


And so, yeah, I just thought there would be something a little bit more thought-provoking. So I used Microsoft Co-Pilot, and with their help, I did find one interesting research paper that came out recently. And it was actually done by the University of Michigan Surgery Department. They studied surgical residents and fellows in training who are left-handed. And what their experience had been. And, you know, they basically said that left-handed students reported negative experiences, regardless of which hand they operated with. And it came down to really two things. One was kind of the training that they received and the built environment, Raakhee. So you're talking about, like, the products, but also the psychological processes.


And so one basic example is you're taking the surgical tools, like, imagine cutting even just with a scissor every day, right? It's pretty much built for a right-handed person. So in surgery, you have to take these tools, built for right-handed people, and either use it in your left hand, which is awkward. Or you have to use the right-handed tool in your non-dominant hand that, you know, you haven't really been using most of your life. 


So either way, it really forces a bit of disorientation and a lot of training and a lot of harder work to get through this environment. And so some of the left-handed people are now reporting being ambidextrous. And so there's a lot to uncover there, but I really like the study because, one, it said, this has nothing to do with the ability of left-handed people. It had to do with the ergonomics of what it was and then how people react in that environment.


And so I was just hoping, you know, in the future, it's great that there's this research. I was thinking what other environments could there be more research on and then training. I was thinking, like, in cooking, in restaurants, how does that, how do you deal with that? There's so many right-handed tools that I cannot operate in the kitchen. And then you're thinking of the whole setup at a restaurant. Like, how do you fit in and it's so fast-paced? Like, how do you do well? Is it harder for you to get set up? I mean, not all left-handed people feel this way, but I just thought, yeah, it would be really cool to see a lot more research studies this way that will then change training and how that may look like. So I was excited about that and wanted to share.


Raakhee: Wow, there's a lot to be done in that space. So thank you, Sue, for sharing that. And yeah, for thinking about that when it comes to surgeons, that's a whole other, like, whoa. So, so fascinating. So much to, I mean, talk about an opportunity and a market. So much to be done there. And very, very interesting. Thank you so much for sharing that. And to my other left-handed friend, Lana, what signal did you pick up?


Lana: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I was thinking about, you know, in elementary school, they would have maybe one pair of left-handed scissors, it was green. If you didn't get that one pair, you could not do, like, the cutting exercises. Like, it's just, I just had to, like, give up, or I had to ask someone else to cut the paper for me, because I could not use the regular scissors to cut my paper. So I really, I really feel that very deeply. And we need to have a side business making left-handed tools. Like, that is just absurd. Also, say, like, trying to learn guitar, left-handed, it's basically like playing it upside down. You know, so you have to, like, get it re-strung. Like, there's, like, a whole thing.


[7:48]


So yeah, I think my signal will actually complement this really well, because it also has to do with hands. And it is: researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a robotic prosthetic extra thumb. So if you imagine, like, if you look at your hand and, like, your five fingers, imagine a second thumb, but, like, next to your pinky. So you'd have six fingers on one hand. A thumb on each side. 


Right, so they developed this prosthetic extra thumb and you control it, it was printed with a 3D printer. You control it with, actually, like, your left toe and your right toe. They put a sensor under each toe. And when you squeeze your left toe, it moves the thumb a certain way. And when you squeeze the right toe, it moves the thumb in the opposite direction. 


And then they had 500 volunteers, as young as three, and as old as 96. So they had a whole age spectrum of volunteers test out if they could operate the extra thumb, like, if they could figure out the whole, like, toe thing and make the thumb move and do very simple tasks.


And it's, like, for the most part, like, 97% of the volunteers could figure it out, like, pretty, you know, they got the hang of it, how to use the extra thumb. And so, you know, they were saying, like, this could be really great for people who use their hands, and they even said, like, surgeons, or people who are doing, like, you can imagine, like, factory work or, you know, in a warehouse. But of course, like, so many people, if you think about it, use their hands, you know, so, like, quote, increase productivity to, like, have this extra digit. 


And, yeah, so I was thinking, like, this does flip ergonomics on its head, because instead of, you know, trying to adapt, you know, to our bodies as humans, we're now adapting our human body, right? To our environment, even imagining adding, like, extra digits. I mean, I don't know what's next, extra limbs. And so it's this motor augmentation. 


And so, yeah, if you think about kind of these wearable robotic devices, you know, and then new ergonomic considerations, but also, like, what this could mean for sports, right? Or for music, like, we can have, like, a whole different range of things we can express with, like, you know, on a musical instrument. And so there's just a lot of interesting possibilities.


But, yeah, I do see this interplay between this robotic thumb and Sue, the observations you're making about left-handed life. And, yeah, what the implications could be for that. This is going to make our lives more difficult somehow, if we have an extra thumb? 


But there's a video that showed what you could do. For example, peeling a banana with just one hand, right? Because you can hold it -- the banana and you can peel the top. Or they were, like, playing cards, like, holding all their cards with one hand. It's sort of, like, shuffling through them. I don't know. It was...it's pretty funny to watch. But, yeah, I think that's sort of what I found under this topic that I thought was fun.


Raakhee: So, so awesome. Oh, my gosh, I am loving these signals today. And, I mean, if anyone could actually see our faces right now, you would be laughing along. Because Sue and I are pretending to have this extra thumb, and we are trying to figure out how it would work. And I really can't wrap my head around it. I just don't know. I can't even imagine what it would feel like, how you'd peel this banana. Or that is so, so interesting. And I'm sure it will be there soon enough. Like, I can already picture the people lining up to get this.


It reminds me of something I saw. I saw it just after we did our Olympics episode, and I was going to bring it up. What's going to happen, like, in terms of, like, enhanced, like, we have Paralympics, we have Olympics, but there's a space in between, right, with this augmentation sense. And kind of, like, is the Paralympics going to change into something different, as we become enhanced humans? You know, because of all that legacy support. And these are, like, super humans now, right? We're becoming superhuman. And there is somebody, some rich, millionaire, billionaire guy, who is, he started something called Enhanced Games. So, yeah, Google it. He wants to have the first one next year. And it's about saying, not just what you, you know, you might have in terms of wearable or sensors, but even like psychedelics. And things like that. Like, if these are things that help you perform at your best, then let's take all the people who want to perform at their best and put them in an arena and open up the rules here. So, it's called Enhanced Games. It's an actual, real thing. There's a website for it. And, yeah, he wants to have one as soon as, like, next year. So, he's trying to recruit all these athletes and things like that. 


So, it just reminds me of that. And I'm like, we are going to see more and more of this. So, so, so interesting. I think Lana, like you pointed out, like on the one hand, it's like trying to design for our bodies. And then on the other hand, it's like, oh, my goodness, like changing our bodies to the extent that, yeah, we've never even thought about before. 


[14:25]


So, I'll jump to my signal. It's very different. It's a very different vein. So, I love that. I think lots of food for thought with this episode. But I went to a session that was hosted, but also sort of another futures community. And it was really interesting. They spoke about this topic around emotional ergonomics. And that really resonated with me, right? Because I'm very interested in the psychological side of ergonomics, which often gets the least attention. It's kind of, you know, we'll set up an environment physically the right way and we'll measure it. Because that's easier to do for the physical aspects. And then after six months, we'll be like, oh, there's been a psychological impact. And then we try to fix that. And we continuously do this. But we're not very good at assessing up front what's the psychological impact of environments. And simple things around, yeah, things like emotional ergonomics.


I really enjoyed the session, but I know right off the bat, one of the examples the person spoke about, it resonates with the feeling and the signal that I'm going to talk about shortly. But she spoke about how we, you know, we've designed elevators that you do the buttons from the outside or somebody controls that, right? And you step into like this complete steel, metal, box, no buttons, door closed. And technically it's convenience. It's probably safety for the office building and regulation and all that makes sense. And I didn't know that this was the unintended consequence. But after she spoke about it, I was like, oh my gosh. But anyway, so we've designed for convenience and all these things that we step into this elevator. And when you step into this elevator, you can't interact with it in any way. You can't hold the door for anybody. You can't do anything like that. And typically when people then come in, your interaction with them is very different because it is very different when you hold a button and you hold it for somebody or you put your arm out. And so in designing for convenience, those sorts of elevators are also far more lonelier spaces. We designed actually for loneliness because we don't think about those feelings.


And it's a simple thing like that, but it's such a different experience. In some spaces, it might work. It might have the right effect. But for people who might be using that every day in and out for work, is that really what we want? Is that really the sort of feeling we want to invoke when we design things? So that example from that session really stayed with me. And this feeling around designing for emotions. 


[17:03]


And yeah, I happened to find the signal that for some reason just excited me. It resonated with me. And that is that at libraries across the U.S. they are installing these family work stations. And so it's like a work desk, but it's got an attachment that's actually a playpen for a kid like a toddler. And it's really colorful and it's beautiful. And it's like this whole, it's like one unit. It's so cute. And so you have your work desk, but you have this playpen and they're setting them up in libraries across the U.S. because they recognize that people can't necessarily leave their kids at home, but they have to access the library and to have access to knowledge and to learn. It's a human right as is having a kid. So how do you cater for that?


And I thought it was interesting because libraries are supposed to be quiet. And we spoke about this with the eating at libraries. And here's another signal kind of showing, say, we need to shift the culture. But what I really loved about that was just, it brought up for me of like, for that individual, like if we did this in workspaces, and if workspaces started allowing this, there don't need to be a lot of them, right? It just needs to be for kids up till they get to the daycare age. It's just a certain point. How different would that feeling be for the person who's working there?


Because I would imagine as a mother, I'd be a lot more calmer, I'd be a lot more relaxed, and it would be easier for me to focus. Like, my kids right here, they're saying they're cool. I'm good. I can do what I want to. And I particularly experienced this with new mothers in the workplace where I experienced firsthand, not just one, but two incidents where a woman came back to work. I was there in the team or managing or something that first week or two. And they had to drop back out because it was just too soon and they just couldn't do it yet, you know?


And yeah, so it just made me think about all those things. But I thought, how cool. And I'm almost certain in some spaces and in some more places they'll start implementing something like this, at least a couple of them. And it spoke to so many things. We're spoken about the whole self-integration, et cetera, right? Like, you can't separate that side of who you are. 


And what's interesting is we're going to have four generations at work. We have four generations that work now. And you've got to accommodate all of them in different ways. So I can imagine different spaces, right? Because some people might be like, hey, listen, I appreciate the kid has to be there. But I can't work on this level. And that's OK. There'll be another room, another section where you can be. And if you want a big smile, you can go and look at this cute baby and get that. If that works for you, right? It's going to be different for everybody else. I think saying that, yeah, not just designing for our lifestyles, but for this whole thing about how we feel at work.


So what did you enjoy about this week? And what stuck out?


Sue: Well, first, I love the fact that we're not talking about chairs, keyboards. Just like you said, Raakhee, a lot of time, the conversation will lead exactly to that. And there is such a wider universe of what ergonomics is. I like that we're focusing on this topic. 


Yeah, I think the theme that just kept coming to the forefront for me was this is really about design for belonging and inclusion. And these are three separate instances where the kind of scenario we're presenting is now paying attention to something that may not have been paid attention to before. So I really like that idea, whereas before you go into something cookie cutter and you have to figure out how to force yourself to make it work. No, there are so many options now.


And so I was thinking of there's like a, I think it's a card deck and also a set of principles around liberatory design and design for belonging that was written by someone at Stanford at the D School. And so I could say, I think it was a lot for community spaces, but it also has to go into the design of the built environment, which I really love. And so that's what I was thinking about.


Raakhee: Yeah, I think it's such a beautiful summation issue. Lana, what do you think? What stuck out to you?


Lana: Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think that's a really nice, nice theme that you pulled out. And I mean, I really appreciated the call out for the emotional ergonomics because I agree. I think when you think of fine tuning productivity, which is how we have, you know, designed processes, even, you know, to the extent of minimizing the energy that you spend moving a piece of paper from one side of the thing to the other, and really just having this broader conversation of how do we want to feel, you know, and I think that I think that shift is happening in a lot of, I think it's part of a bigger conversation that we're having as we're more aware of our physical, mental and emotional needs. And so ergonomics coming into that, it seems like a very beautiful intersection.


Raakhee: That rounds us up nicely for today.


So if you are listening, we would be so, so interested to know what your story is. Like how is this playing out in your life? What's being designed and built that is working for you? And where are the gaps? 


Because clearly there's so many that we don't know, so I’m very curious about everyone's story when it comes to kind of the environments and, you know, what's working for them. And also please do share with us. And as always, you know, it's horizonshiftlab.com. Go and share it over there, but you can drop a comment on any podcast episode. Anyway, we will see your comments. So just, you know, share your comments with us. We'd love to hear from you and have a great rest of your week. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and we will catch you again soon.

Bye for now.


[23:14]

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