Benchmarking occupational exoskeletons: An evidence mapping systematic review

Bock, Sander De; Ghillebert, Jo; Govaerts, Renée; Tassignon, Bruno; Rodriguez–Guerrero, Carlos; Crea, Simona; Veneman, Jan F.; Geeroms, Joost; Meeusen, Romain

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103582

Cited by 64 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…In this study the exoskeleton condition was compared to a condition without exoskeleton. A recent review suggested that a placebo effect, caused by the presence of the exoskeleton device, might be occurring [15]. Evaluating the exoskeleton in a transparent mode, while blinding the participants, may avoid this placebo effect in future work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While most powered exoskeletons are still constrained to laboratory environments, passive exoskeletons are already being used in industry, as they are cheaper and provide a compromise between effectiveness and wearability [11]. Laboratory-based passive shoulder exoskeleton assessments showed promising effects [12], but up to now, implementation of this technology in working environments is still low [13], [14], [15]. Limitations in wearability and functional performance [16], [17], [18], and the quest for the optimal exoskeleton assistance [19], [20] are still open challenges.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Physiological evaluations are one important aspect of exoskeleton assessment [13], [15]. It was shown that effort expectancy affects exoskeleton acceptance [34], suggesting that the worker's preferred tool is likely to be the tool that is easy to use, optimizing the worker's well-being and overall performance without compromising its natural kinematics or comfort [35], [36], while it also reduces the physical workload.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the reported positive effects on physiological parameters support exoskeleton implementation in the field, discrepancy between the effectiveness of exoskeletons in the field and a laboratory environment was recently reported [39]. This emphasizes the importance of simulating characteristics of occupational tasks during the evaluation of exoskeleton prototypes in the lab when the device's technology readiness level is too low for assessments in the field [15], [40].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Occupational Shoulder Exoskeleton Reduces Muscle Activity and Fatigue During Overhead Work

Bock

Rossini

Lefeber

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.

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Objective. This paper assesses the effect of a passive shoulder exoskeleton prototype, Exo4Work, on muscle activity, muscle fatigue and subjective experience during simulated occupational overhead and non-overhead work. Methods. Twenty-two healthy males performed six simulated industrial tasks with and without Exo4Work exoskeleton in a randomized counterbalanced cross-over design. During these tasks electromyography, heart rate, metabolic cost, subjective parameters and performance parameters were acquired. The effect of the exoskeleton and the body side on these parameters was investigated. Results. Anterior deltoid activity and fatigue reduced up to 16% and 41%, respectively, during isometric overhead work, and minimized hindrance of the device during nonoverhead tasks. Wearing the exoskeleton increased feelings of frustration and increased discomfort in the areas where the exoskeleton and the body interfaced. The assistive effect of the exoskeleton was less prominent during dynamic tasks. Conclusion. This exoskeleton may reduce muscle activity and delay development of muscle fatigue in an overhead working scenario. For dynamic applications, the exoskeleton's assistive profile, which mimics the gravitational torque of the arm, is potentially sub-optimal. Significance. This evaluation paper is the first to report reduced muscle fatigue and activity when working with an occupational shoulder exoskeleton providing one third of the gravitational torque of the arm during overhead work. These results stress the potential of occupational shoulder exoskeletons in overhead working situations and may direct towards longitudinal field experiments. Additionally, this experiment may stimulate future work to further investigate the effect of different assistive profiles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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An Occupational Shoulder Exoskeleton Reduces Muscle Activity and Fatigue During Overhead Work

Bock

Rossini

Lefeber

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.

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“…BSEs have the potential to be applied in several scenarios as they can reduce the back-muscles activation level -and thus the associated risk of MSDs -in activities that are characterized by repetitive lifting and/or incongruous and static postures. Such activities are identified by ISO 11228 and ISO 11226 as sources of MSDs [3], [4], [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active and Passive Back-Support Exoskeletons: A Comparison in Static and Dynamic Tasks

Poliero

Fanti

Sposito

et al. 2022

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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Studies on back-support exoskeletons focus mostly on the evaluation of single devices. Also, these studies suggest that passive exoskeletons might be preferred when performing static tasks, whereas active ones, could show their advantage in dynamic tasks. To verify this hypothesis and provide a comparison between different devices, in this study, we analyse the performance of the XoTrunk and the Laevo v2.56, an active back-support exoskeleton and a passive one, respectively. We analyse these devices highlighting their ability to reduce back muscle activation, perceived discomfort and usability. The study was carried out by simulating a dynamic and a static task. The results show that both exoskeletons reduce back-muscle activation levels, although the XoTrunk provides a reduction that was more than twice as large as the Laevo (e.g., 41% vs 16%, respectively). The results also show that, overall, in the dynamic condition, the XoTrunk has better scores than the Laevo. Conversely, in the static task, the participants in the study had a preference for the passive device, Laevo. The results presented in this work can help exoskeleton end-users to properly select the best device to fit their needs.

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Effect of a Passive Shoulder Support Exoskeleton on Fatigue During Working with Arms over Shoulder Level

Brunner

Sluijs²,

Bartenbach³

et al. 2023

Mechanisms and Machine Science

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Benchmarking occupational exoskeletons: An evidence mapping systematic review

Cited by 64 publications

References 128 publications

An Occupational Shoulder Exoskeleton Reduces Muscle Activity and Fatigue During Overhead Work

An Occupational Shoulder Exoskeleton Reduces Muscle Activity and Fatigue During Overhead Work

Active and Passive Back-Support Exoskeletons: A Comparison in Static and Dynamic Tasks

Effect of a Passive Shoulder Support Exoskeleton on Fatigue During Working with Arms over Shoulder Level

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