Abstract
Due to the increasing mean age of workforce across all industry sectors, work-related musculoskeletal diseases, which already have an impact on overall production capacities, are becoming more than ever the focus of attention. Strenuous postures, repetitive tasks, and heavy loads are risk factors for developing work-related diseases. Exoskeletons, which have been suggested as a preventative measure for musculoskeletal disorders, are piloted in various industrial environments. Although psychological and physiological consequences on the wearer have been increasingly investigated, the so far conducted studies mainly focused on the ergonomic evaluation in a laboratory setting. Field studies which evaluate the effects of exoskeletons under real working conditions are scarce. This paper investigates the influence of two different overhead exoskeletons on perceived strain among eight male associates on the assembly line of an automotive manufacturer. Assessment of perceived strain, body part related through Borg’s CR-10 scale combined with a modified body map and whole-body through a visual analogue scale (VAS), revealed statistically significant reductions in upper limbs, shoulders (anterior and posterior) as well as neck and spine while using the exoskeletons.
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Hefferle, M., Snell, M., Kluth, K. (2021). Influence of Two Industrial Overhead Exoskeletons on Perceived Strain – A Field Study in the Automotive Industry. In: Zallio, M. (eds) Advances in Human Factors in Robots, Drones and Unmanned Systems. AHFE 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1210. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51758-8_13
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