A wearable device for reducing spinal loads during lifting tasks: Biomechanics and design concepts

Toxiri, Stefano; Ortiz, Jesús; Masood, Jawad; Fernández, Jorge Roa; Mateos, Luis A.

doi:10.1109/robio.2015.7419116

Cited by 61 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…An average range of motion of 117 • in the sagittal plane was measured in the prototype with the flexible beam as spinal interface. Compared to the design goal of 60 • flexion-extension in the sagittal plane of the Robomate exoskeleton (Toxiri et al, 2016), that is an increase of almost 100% (57 • ). Encouraging are also the results, that an angle agreement between the exoskeleton and the human of more than 70% was achieved if the full set of misalignment compensating mechanisms is enabled (See Figure 11).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Classical rigid exoskeletons such as Laevo (Laevo, 2018), Robomate (Toxiri et al, 2016), Bending Non-Demand Return (BNDR) (Ulrey and Fathallah, 2013), Wearable Moment Restoring Device (WMRD) (Wehner et al, 2009), BackX (SuitX, 2018), and Back Support Muscle Suit (Muramatsu et al, 2013) have in common, that at least one single actuated joint is placed at the hip level or slightly above to allow movement in the sagittal FIGURE 1 | Back muscle forces and exoskeleton forces and moments (A). In order to balance the gravitational forces acting on on the trunk, the back muscles (F Muscle ) contract.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Passive Back Support Exoskeleton Improves Range of Motion Using Flexible Beams

et al. 2018

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In the EU, lower back pain affects more than 40% of the working population. Mechanical loading of the lower back has been shown to be an important risk factor. Peak mechanical load can be reduced by ergonomic interventions, the use of cranes and, more recently, by the use of exoskeletons. Despite recent advances in the development of exoskeletons for industrial applications, they are not widely adopted by industry yet. Some of the challenges, which have to be overcome are a reduced range of motion, misalignment between the human anatomy and kinematics of the exoskeleton as well as discomfort. A body of research exists on how an exoskeleton can be designed to compensate for misalignment and thereby improve comfort. However, how to design an exoskeleton that achieves a similar range of motion as a human lumbar spine of up to 60 • in the sagittal plane, has not been extensively investigated. We addressed this need by developing and testing a novel passive back support exoskeleton, including a mechanism comprised of flexible beams, which run in parallel to the spine, providing a large range of motion and lowering the peak torque requirements around the lumbo-sacral (L5/S1) joint. Furthermore, we ran a pilot study to test the biomechanical (N = 2) and functional (N = 3) impact on subjects while wearing the exoskeleton. The biomechanical testing was once performed with flexible beams as a back interface and once with a rigid structure. An increase of more than 25% range of motion of the trunk in the sagittal plane was observed by using the flexible beams. The pilot functional tests, which are compared to results from a previous study with the Laevo device, suggest, that the novel exoskeleton is perceived as less hindering in almost all tested tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Back Support Exoskeleton Improves Range of Motion Using Flexible Beams

et al. 2018

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“…16. The second abduction joint in combination with the ball joint connection to the brace is said to compensate for misalignment effects [104]. The three-dimensional ball joint operates as a hinge in a single plane.…”

Section: Revolute-revolute-revolute Joint Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Misalignment Compensation for Full Human-Exoskeleton Kinematic Compatibility: State of the Art and Evaluation

Näf

Junius

Rossini

et al. 2018

Applied Mechanics Reviews

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The use of exoskeletons by the elderly, disabled people, heavy labor workers, and soldiers can have great social and economic benefit. However, limitations in usability are impeding the widespread adoption of exoskeletal devices. Kinematic compatibility, comfort, volume, mass, simplicity, expandability, and the ability to transmit forces, relative angles between the exoskeleton and the human, and the donning and doffing procedure need to be considered. Over the last decades, a large number of exoskeletons have been developed, to assert kinematic compatibility and compensate for misalignment. To such a degree, that it has become difficult to keep an overview of the different strategies. Therefore, this review article presents an extensive overview of different misalignment compensation strategies existing in the literature. Further, these strategies are organized in nine categories, evaluated and discussed around the exoskeleton's application domain and its specific requirements and needs.

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“…Robo-Mate is an active back-support exoskeleton specifically designed to assist workers while performing heavy objects manipulation [25]. It focuses on reducing lumbar overload and, as a consequence, the risk of developing MSDs.…”

Section: A Exoskeleton Prototypementioning

confidence: 99%

Acceleration-based Assistive Strategy to Control a Back-support Exoskeleton for Load Handling: Preliminary Evaluation

Lazzaroni

Toxiri

Caldwell

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE 16th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)

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Industrial active exoskeletons have recently achieved considerable interest, due to their intrinsic versatility compared to passive devices. To achieve this versatility, an important open challenge is the design of appropriate control strategies to automatically modulate the physical assistance according to the activity the user is performing. This work focuses on active back-support exoskeletons. To improve the assistance provided in dynamic situations with respect to state-of-the-art methods, a new strategy making use of the angular acceleration of the user's trunk is presented. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy were tested experimentally on a prototype in a load handling task. The main advantages in terms of assistive torque profiles emerge during the transition phases of the movement (i.e. beginning and end of lowering and lifting) indicating an appropriate adaptation to the dynamics of the execution. In this preliminary evaluation, the data on peak muscular activity at the spine show promising trends, encouraging further developments and a more detailed evaluation.

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A wearable device for reducing spinal loads during lifting tasks: Biomechanics and design concepts

Cited by 61 publications

References 10 publications

Passive Back Support Exoskeleton Improves Range of Motion Using Flexible Beams

Passive Back Support Exoskeleton Improves Range of Motion Using Flexible Beams

Misalignment Compensation for Full Human-Exoskeleton Kinematic Compatibility: State of the Art and Evaluation

Acceleration-based Assistive Strategy to Control a Back-support Exoskeleton for Load Handling: Preliminary Evaluation

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