E-Carry: An Intermittent Pneumatic System for Enhanced Backpack Carrying Comfort

Jiace Zhang, Zhiyu Li, Xiaoyu Zhang, Rong Li, Lige Zhang, Jiawen Chen, Yingying Zhu, Qian Nie*, Xipei Ren*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The backpack that people carry to school or work may lead to shoulder fatigue and pain, due to the constant static pressure it exerts. To address this issue, we propose E-Carry, an intelligent backpack shoulder harness based on the principle of Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) and background interaction principles (BIP) The E-Carry is designed to utilize intermittently inflating airbags as a dynamic alternating support structure to intervene in shoulder blood flow without distraction and to enhance comfort. In order to explore the effectiveness, in this paper, we conducted a within-subject experiment with twenty-four participants, in which we investigated the blood flow in the shoulder and user experience under three conditions: no weight, traditional backpack, and E-Carry. Results showed that E-Carry significantly improved blood flow, and transformed weight bearing into a positive massage experience by guiding the backpack design through contextual interactions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI EA 2025 - Extended Abstracts of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9798400713958
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Apr 2025
Externally publishedYes
Event2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2025 - Yokohama, Japan
Duration: 26 Apr 20251 May 2025

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2025
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityYokohama
Period26/04/251/05/25

Keywords

  • Background Interaction Principles (BIP)
  • Backpack
  • Blood Flow
  • Fatigue
  • Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC)
  • Shoulder

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