May 2025
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Inside the May Issue |
The Use of Exoskeletons to Improve Occupational Health and Safety
Wearable technologies, or wearables,
are devices worn on the body and can vary
in size, shape, and function. Some employers
have an increasing interest in using
wearables to improve worker safety
and productivity. Industrial uses fall into
four general categories: (1) supporting devices
physically assist workers with tasks
like lifting (e.g., exoskeletons and powered
gloves); (2) monitoring devices alert
workers to specific changes in vital signs
or the workplace environment (e.g., smart
helmets); (3) training devices provide
feedback on movements (e.g., ergonomic
sensors) or help improve worker performance
(e.g., augmented reality (AR)
glasses); and (4) tracking devices observe
the location of employees on a worksite
(e.g., GPS trackers).
Exoskeletons have been used and implemented in multiple industries as a preventive measure to reduce work-related musculoskeletal stress. The main functional principle of these assistive systems is to transfer mechanical energy to the human body, thereby reducing physical stress on specific body parts. In terms of safety, exoskeletons can limit the movements of human body members by avoiding risky positions of multiple body parts. However, there is a controversial debate on whether using exoskeletons prevents work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Implementing exoskeletons in the workplace requires prior actions to determine whether an exoskeleton is strictly necessary and provides a natural solution for the worker and the company.
Regarding occupational health and safety, developments of exoskeletons have been identified that obey two types of applications: assistance in loading tasks and rehabilitation for the recovery of mobility when workers have suffered disorders and/or injuries. In addition, there are exoskeletons for training that include using haptic devices to provide feedback to the user to correct their postures and train for the tasks to be performed.
According to multiple studies of the most frequent disorders in construction activities, the symptoms and musculoskeletal disorders that present the most recurrence are neck pain; shoulder, upper back, and lower back pain; leg pain; foot pain; general fatigue of the whole body; and hand pain.
In order to control and activate the degree of rotational freedom of the knee, developments have been presented that use an elastic actuator operated with a cable. This mechanism allows for the regulation of translation movements with a parallel mechanism of three degrees of freedom, whose movement can be guided by presenting a low inertial resistance for the user, guaranteeing safety and robustness in its use.
Exoskeletons have been designed to provide knee assistance using multimodal actuators. These exoskeletons allow the activation of various modes of operation during movement cycles. In addition, elastic behavior, rigid position, and energy storage and release are controlled.
Using a mechanical model, an eccentric pulley has been used to achieve multistage nonlinear assistance at different knee flexion angles. The assistance is lower during walking on flat terrain but increases markedly during ascent or climbing by the user.
Studies on shape synthesis for exoskeletons that assist the knee have been presented; clinical biomechanical data have been considered to achieve gait cycles, achieving a 45 percent reduction in maximum actuation force. A four-bar link is used and is intended for use by people with injured knees to support ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Full story »
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