Fatigue recognition in overhead assembly based on a soft robotic exosuit for worker assistance

Abstract

Physical stress and overuse during assembly tasks is one of the main causes of musculoskeletal disorders of workers. Innovative body-worn robotic assist systems aim to reduce the physical stress in manual assembly and handling operations. A novel approach for automatic fatigue detection using machine learning techniques, combined with body-borne sensors, enables early detection and classification of fatigue. This article introduces the new method for an innovative soft robotic exosuit for physical worker assistance. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated in a case study for overhead car assembly.