Design of a Low Cost Adjustable Seating System for Comfort of Weaver in ‘de Sign Loom: A Semi-Automatic Handloom’

Seating system of handloom weaver need appropriate height from floor and distance from treadle and sley handle, somehow similar to the tailor working in a sewing machine. Handloom weaver need to work by their hand and leg simultaneously in a regular dynamic pattern for long time. It is difficult to weave with same seating system by weavers having different body dimensions. Currently, weavers are using stool or a fixed bench as the seating system for weaving. Therefore, some weaver weaves in awkward posture which causes occupational health issues over time. Therefore, it is very important to have a proper adjustable seating system with weaver’s reachability to handle for beat-up motion and to paddle in the treadle for shedding motion. A field study is carried out in Sualkuchi and mega handloom cluster at Sivasagar in Assam state of India to know the health issues associated with the seating system and to know about existing seating system used by the weavers. This paper is concerned with handloom weavers impacting through design intervention and development of a new seating system considering anthropometry, physical ergonomics, and operational factors. An alpha and beta model with physical model is made with anthropometry data considering man and women. Simulation is carried out with both lower and higher size manikin in CAD tool to get the adjustment range required in the new seating system of ‘De sign loom: a semi-automatic handloom’ design and developed by Department of Design, IIT Guwahati.