Using robotic exoskeletons to reduce muscle activity of workers

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study demonstrating the advantages of different exoskeletons while performing workers’ tasks. The study illustrates that how the use of certain upper and lower body exoskeletons can reduce the muscle effort around the shoulder, hip, and knee joints. Therefore, overhead, shoulder level, virtual chair position, and deep squatting position drilling tasks were performed, and muscle activity was recorded using EMG sensors. The muscle activity of the participants was compared with and without wearing exoskeletons while performing the same tasks. It was found that up to 60% reduction in the human effort can be achieved while performing the same tasks using exoskeletons. Many of the large-scale automobile manufacturers have already adopted exoskeletons in their assembly lines, however, the use of exoskeletons in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is still not recognized. Therefore, this study aims to create awareness and accelerate adoption of exoskeletons among SMEs and construction workers.