Field Results: Impact of Verve Motion Exosuits on Selection at Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.

Warehouse associates often lift up to 50,000 pounds of material daily, leading to significant risks of overexertion injuries, fatigue, and decreased productivity. Verve Motion developed the SafeLift Exosuit to assist warehouse workers by reducing the physical strain on their bodies.

This presentation will cover the key components and field results from implementing exosuits at a Wegmans Food Markets distribution center. Drawing on over two years of data, we will explore a typical day for workers using the exosuit, quantify the impact on back injury reduction, and share lessons learned and best practices for successful implementation.

Presenting Speakers

Nancy Laurie is the Occupational Health Manager for Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. She has been with the company for 12 years working in the fields of Ergonomics, Prevention through Design and most recently implementing an enterprise wide EHS Compliance Management System. She spent 11 years with the Eastman Kodak Company in various Health, Safety and Product Stewardship roles. Dr. Laurie has a Doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts in Industrial Engineering, specializing in Human Factors & Ergonomics Engineering. Her areas of research included modeling cumulative trauma disorders and driving simulation in virtual environments. She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist with 32 years of experience including: ergonomics, operational excellence, lean / six sigma process improvement, product and facility design and expert witness consultation.

Ignacio Galiana is the co-founder and CEO of Verve Motion.  Verve launched in 2020 out of Harvard University with a mission to power the human workplace through people-centric robotics. Prior to Verve, Dr. Galiana was the Robotics Platform Lead at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University where he led the soft exosuit projects in the Biodesign Lab and managed the Harvard team under the DARPA Warrior Web program developing next generation wearable technology. Galiana received his Ph.D. in Robotics from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 2013. During his Ph.D. he received multiple awards including the “best Ph.D. thesis in Europe on haptics” for his contributions to haptic devices, VR and Telerobotics.