NATICK, Mass. -- Researchers from the Biomechanics, Human Factors and Anthropometry Teams at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, or NSRDEC, are conducting a reliability assessment of the Load Effects Assessment Program, or LEAP.
NSRDEC researchers want to determine if the tool, which was developed by the Marines, can be adapted to meet Army needs and provide a reliable method to measure the impact of clothing and individual equipment, or CIE, on Soldier performance.
By understanding how CIE affects the warfighter's ability to move and maneuver through the LEAP obstacle course, scientists and engineers will be able to implement modifications to optimize the design and integration of CIE -- thus, improving Soldier-System interface and performance. The reliability assessment is just one in a series of assessments that will be conducted using the LEAP system.
"Natick has partnered with PEO Soldier Product Director Soldier Systems Integration; Maneuver Center of Excellence -- Maneuver Battle Lab; and the Army Research Laboratories -- Human Research and Engineering Directorate to share the knowledge learned about using the tool and to develop a standard methodology for product assessment using the tool," said Blake Mitchell, a human factors engineer and acting team leader for NSRDEC's Human Factors Team. "This information will also be fed to an international working group consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who hope to be able to use the LEAP tool as a joint data-collection tool."
Based on Marine input, the LEAP tool consists of a series of obstacles and mission-relevant activities to resemble challenges that warfighters face in current combat situations. Soldiers participating in NSRDEC's LEAP assessment navigate stairs, ladders, tunnels, windows, walls and balance beams. They also perform a myriad of mission-related tasks, including load transfers, simulated casualty drags, low crawls, high crawls, back crawls and sprints.
"The activities that are part of the LEAP were developed to mimic the most common, as well as the most challenging, activities that warfighters perform in combat," said Mitchell. "This condenses many potential movements and activities of a mission into a single tool. The warfighter's performance, including subjective opinions, provides insight into his or her range of motion, comfort, mobility and endurance, as impacted by the CIE configuration worn."
As part of the reliability assessment, Mitchell and her team documented how many times Soldiers had to go through the course before data was consistent.
"Our research program has many facets to it, and this is just the first step," said Mitchell. "In order to implement the tool, we need to understand some of the scientific underpinnings of it. And in this case, (we) want to better understand if consistent data can be collected, and if so, how many times do individuals need to complete the course to perform consistently? As a first step, this is being accomplished with the Soldiers wearing minimal equipment, but as we move forward, it will be investigated with additional CIE and loads."
Tyler Brown, a research physiologist on NSRDEC's Biomechanics Team, is working on a second research project based on the LEAP tool. He is not using the LEAP tool as a whole for research, but is conducting a laboratory-based study mimicking movements taken directly from select LEAP tasks.
"The overarching purpose is to establish a scientific understanding for why differences in weight between various configurations of clothing and individual equipment impact Soldier performance," said Brown. "The clothing and individual equipment Soldiers wear can have different weight, stiffness and bulk characteristics. All of which may impact physical performance. With this study, we are trying to establish how Soldiers' performance, especially their trunk and lower limb biomechanical profile, is impact by small changes in the weight of CIE."
"Researchers may be able to compare whether a bulkier configuration of CIE has a significant reduction in physical performance compared to less bulky configuration," said Brown. "Researchers may also be able to compare performance on specific tasks embedded in the LEAP. For instance, they might be able to compare whether the bulky configuration had a significant impact on performance during the agility run, or why performance between the bulky and less bulky configurations of CIE was not different on a vertical jump."
The tool may prove to be a LEAP forward.
"LEAP is a tool that can be useful for future clothing and individual equipment studies to better understand the effects that CIE has on Soldier performance," said Mitchell.
NSRDEC is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), which has the mission to develop technology and engineering solutions for America's Soldiers.
RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.
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Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
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