Abstract
Although passive occupational exoskeletons alleviate worker physical stresses in demanding postures (e.g., overhead work), they are unsuitable in many other applications because of their lack of flexibility. Active exoskeletons that are able to dynamically adjust the delivered support are required. However, the automatic control of support provided by the exoskeleton is still a largely unsolved challenge in many applications, especially for upper limb occupational exoskeletons, where no practical and reliable approach exists. For this type of exoskeletons, a novel support control approach for lifting and carrying activities is presented here. As an initial step towards a full-fledged automatic support control (ASC), the present article focusses on the functionality of estimating the onset of user's demand for support. In this way, intuitive behavior should be made possible. The combination of movement and muscle activation signals of the upper limbs is expected to enable high reliability, cost efficiency, and compatibility for use in industrial applications. The functionality consists of two parts: a preprocessing-the motion interpretation-and the support detection itself. Both parts were trained with different subjects, who had to move objects. The functionality was validated both in the cases of (A) an unknown subject performing known tasks and (B) a known subject performing unknown tasks. The functionality showed sound results as it achieved a high accuracy () in training. In addition, the first validation results showed that this functionality is useful for integration in an appropriately adapted ASC and can then enable comfortable working.
Highlights
According to latest statistics (e.g., BMAS-BAuA, 2019), musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs, ICD-10 M00– M99) are the main cause for days of absence of work in Germany, with a share of 21:9% and a yearly tally of approximately 125 million days
Results with Validation Data For validation, automatic support control (ASC) function is tested (A) with a subject who was not involved in the training using the same scenarios as in the training and (B) with a subject who was involved in the training but with scenarios that did not occur in the training procedure
An ASC concept based on arm motion and muscle activation information was presented with a special focus on the onset of user’s support demand
Summary
According to latest statistics (e.g., BMAS-BAuA, 2019), musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs, ICD-10 M00– M99) are the main cause for days of absence of work in Germany, with a share of 21:9% and a yearly tally of approximately 125 million days. Occurrence of MSDs is in many cases caused by working in poor ergonomic postures, or excessive physical strain on specific body parts (mostly back and shoulder regions), or both. In this context, occupational exoskeletons, that is body-worn assistive devices aimed at relieving physical load on the worker’s body, are gaining increasing importance as potential solutions to reduce fatigue and alleviate the risk of injuries during manual handling or overhead work.
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