Occupational Exoskeletons: Understanding the Impact on Workers and Suggesting Guidelines for Practitioners and Future Research Needs

This paper examines occupational exoskeletons and their effects on workers. The study includes a thorough evaluation of the current literature on occupational exoskeletons, with an emphasis on the impact of these devices on workers’ health and the safety, performance and users’ subjective perceptions. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge of how exoskeletons affect the workers and to identify practical suggestions for practitioners. The findings of the study suggest that exoskeletons can have both positive and negative effects on workers. Some users claimed enhanced comfort and decreased fatigue, whilst others reported discomfort and suffering. The study highlights the importance of considering the individual needs and preferences of workers when selecting and implementing exoskeletons in the workplace, with a focus on health, safety, performance and user acceptance. Based on the findings, the paper presents suggestions for employers and practitioners to ensure the effective and safe use of exoskeletons in occupational settings. These recommendations cover areas such as the assessment of workplace requirements, the selection and fit of exoskeletons, the optimization of design and ergonomics and the evaluation of performance. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for further research in this area, particularly in the areas of long-term use

Investigation into the applicability of a passive upper-limb exoskeleton in automotive industry

The fourth industrial revolution faces the technological challenge of human-robot cooperation in manufacturing process. Aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and user’s acceptance of a passive exoskeleton for upper limbs. Three different tests, involving static and dynamic tasks, were performed by 29 automotive operators without and with the exoskeleton. Main aspects and results of the testing campaign are presented in the paper. Potential issues associated to the introduction of these auxiliary devices in the automotive industry are briefly addressed, together with the open questions on how to assess the biomechanical workload risk, especially in the design phase

Proposal for a Modular-Type Knee-Assistive Wearable Unit and Verification of Its Feasibility

To study human locomotor adaptation and feasibility, we used a lower limb robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's muscle activity. A healthy and normal subject walked while wearing an electrically powered knee exoskeleton on two knees, which effectively increased the plantar flexor strength of the knees and their neighboring muscles. We examined the capabilities and feasibility of knee assistive system (KAS) by testing the adapted motor pattern and the EMG signal variance for exoskeleton walking. It is designed for specific tasks such as level walking and step walking while the user is carrying heavy materials. Using the KAS; custom-made muscle stiffness sensors (MSS), we analyzed the muscle activity pattern which was implemented on the operating algorithm of KAS while he was walking, and examined its feasibility. The results demonstrate that robotic exoskeletons controlled by muscle activity could be useful way of assisting with human walking.This work is financially supported by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MOE), the Ministry of Cmmerce, Industry, and Energy (MOCIE), and te Ministry of Labor (MOLAB) through the fostering project of the Lab of Excellency

Control design of a de-weighting upper-limb exoskeleton: extended-based fuzzy

One of the most common issues to human is fatigue. A technology known as exoskeleton has been identified as one of the solutions to address this issue. However, there are two issues that need to be solved. One of them is the control approach. Hence, the main aim of this work, is to investigate the control design for upper-limb exoskeleton. An extended based fuzzy control is proposed to observe the effectiveness of the exoskeleton in dealing with human with different strength. Three conditions of human strength were applied. PID was used for a comparison purpose. It is shown that with the proposed control approach, the exoskeleton can assist human to achieve the desired trajectory accurately with a minimal amount of torque required

Int J Ind Ergon

Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) remain a major concern for workers in the healthcare industry. Healthcare workers are at high risk of work-related MSDs mainly caused by overexertion from manually handling patients. Exoskeletons may be a useful tool to help reduce the risk of MSDs during patient handling. As a review study, we surveyed articles focusing on applying exoskeletons to patient handling tasks specifically. We also reviewed relevant government databases and other studies related to Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) programs and exoskeleton applications in general. The exoskeletons specifically designed for patient handling were found to be sparse. To have a better understanding of the needs and challenges of developing and using exoskeletons for reducing risks of work-related MSDs in healthcare workers during patient handling, this critical review (1) provided an overview of the existing issues and projected future burdens related to work-related MSDs during patient handling tasks, (2) recognized current and potential roles and applications of existing exoskeletons, and (3) identified challenges and needs for future exoskeleton products. In conclusion, we do not expect exoskeletons to replace the existing SPHM programs, but rather play a complementary role to these multi-pronged programs. We expect that emerging exoskeleton products can be introduced to uncontrolled or specialized healthcare environments. There are various expectations and requirements for an exoskeleton used in different healthcare settings. Additionally, introducing certain types of exoskeletons for patients to assist them during treatment and rehabilitation may help reduce the MSD risks to the healthcare workers.CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/2022-08-02T00:00:00Z35924209PMC934550711722vault:4305

Design methodology of an active back-support exoskeleton with adaptable backbone-based kinematics

Abstract Manual labor is still strongly present in many industrial contexts (such as aerospace industry). Such operations commonly involve onerous tasks requiring to work in non-ergonomic conditions and to manipulate heavy parts. As a result, work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a major problem to tackle in workplace. In particular, back is one of the most affected regions. To solve such issue, many efforts have been made in the design and control of exoskeleton devices, relieving the human from the task load. Besides upper limbs and lower limbs exoskeletons, back-support exoskeletons have been also investigated, proposing both passive and active solutions. While passive solutions cannot empower the human's capabilities, common active devices are rigid, without the possibility to track the human's spine kinematics while executing the task. The here proposed paper describes a methodology to design an active back-support exoskeleton with backbone-based kinematics. On the basis of the (easily implementable) scissor hinge mechanism, a one-degree of freedom device has been designed. In particular, the resulting device allows tracking the motion of a reference vertebra, i.e., the vertebrae in the correspondence of the connection between the scissor hinge mechanism and the back of the operator. Therefore, the proposed device is capable to adapt to the human posture, guaranteeing the support while relieving the person from the task load. In addition, the proposed mechanism can be easily optimized and realized for different subjects, involving a subject-based design procedure, making possible to adapt its kinematics to track the spine motion of the specific user. A prototype of the proposed device has been 3D-printed to show the achieved kinematics. Preliminary tests for discomfort evaluation show the potential of the proposed methodology, foreseeing extensive subjects-based optimization, realization and testing of the device