A Systematic Review on Evaluation Strategies for Field Assessment of Upper-Body Industrial Exoskeletons: Current Practices and Future Trends

• Published in: Annals of biomedical engineering Vol. 50; no. 10; pp. 1203 - 1231
• Main Authors: Kuber, Pranav Madhav, Abdollahi, Masoud, Alemi, Mohammad Mehdi, Rashedi, Ehsan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.10.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: 50th Anniversary Reviews; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomechanical Phenomena; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Classical Mechanics; Evaluation; Exoskeleton; Exoskeleton Device; Exoskeletons; Experimental methods; Health risks; Kinematics; Orthotic Devices; Posture; Risk acceptance; Systematic review; Trends; Workplace; Ergonomics; Assistive devices; Exoskeletons; Field evaluation; Wearable sensors
• ISSN: 0090-6964; 1573-9686; 1573-9686
• DOI: 10.1007/s10439-022-03003-1

With rising manual work demands, physical assistance at the workplace is crucial, wherein the use of industrial exoskeletons ( i- EXOs) could be advantageous. However, outcomes of numerous laboratory studies may not be directly translated to field environments. To explore this discrepancy, we conducted a systematic review including 31 studies to identify and compare the approaches, techniques, and outcomes within field assessments of shoulder and back support i -EXOs. Findings revealed that the subjective approaches [i.e., discomfort (23), usability (22), acceptance/perspectives (21), risk of injury (8), posture (3), perceived workload (2)] were reported more common (27) compared to objective (15) approaches [muscular demand (14), kinematics (8), metabolic costs (5)]. High variability was also observed in the experimental methodologies, including control over activity, task physics/duration, sample size, and reported metrics/measures. In the current study, the detailed approaches, their subject-related factors, and observed trends have been discussed. In sum, a new guideline, including tools/technologies has been proposed that could be utilized for field evaluation of i -EXOs. Lastly, we discussed some of the common technical challenges experimenters face in evaluating i -EXOs in field environments. Efforts presented in this study seek to improve the generalizability in testing and implementing i -EXOs.