Effects of a Shoulder-support Exoskeleton on Shoulder Strain during Augmented Reality Interactions

Abstract

This study determined whether a passive shoulder-support exoskeleton would reduce biomechanical load in the shoulders during augmented reality (AR) interactions. Twenty participants were recruited to a repeated-measures laboratory study to perform AR tasks with and without a shoulder-support exoskeleton. The AR tasks consisted of two standardized tasks (omni-directional pointing and cube placing task). Shoulder muscle activity, postures, discomfort, and task performance (i.e., completion time) were measured during the experimental sessions. The result showed that the shoulder muscle activity (trapezius and deltoid muscles) and subjective shoulder discomfort were significantly lower with the exoskeleton compared to the no-exoskeleton condition (p < 0.05). The shoulder posture data showed that the exoskeleton use increased the 50th percentile of the shoulder flexion (p = 0.02). In contrast, the exoskeleton had limited effects on task performance (p > 0.83). These results suggested that a shoulder-support exoskeleton may have potential to reduce shoulder strain during AR interactions.