Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks

In the last two decades, the adoption of exoskeletal devices for the reduction of the biomechanical overload of workers has hugely increased. They allow relief of the biomechanical load of the operator and ensure the operator’s contact with the object without binding its interaction. In this work, t...

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Main Authors: Francesco Scotto di Luzio, Christian Tamantini, Raffaele Di Maro, Chiara Carnazzo, Stefania Spada, Francesco Draicchio, Loredana Zollo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Wearable Technologies
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717625100212/type/journal_article
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author Francesco Scotto di Luzio
Christian Tamantini
Raffaele Di Maro
Chiara Carnazzo
Stefania Spada
Francesco Draicchio
Loredana Zollo
author_facet Francesco Scotto di Luzio
Christian Tamantini
Raffaele Di Maro
Chiara Carnazzo
Stefania Spada
Francesco Draicchio
Loredana Zollo
author_sort Francesco Scotto di Luzio
collection DOAJ
description In the last two decades, the adoption of exoskeletal devices for the reduction of the biomechanical overload of workers has hugely increased. They allow relief of the biomechanical load of the operator and ensure the operator’s contact with the object without binding its interaction. In this work, the biomechanical and physiological effects on the user wearing upper limb passive exoskeletons have been evaluated to highlight the benefits and possible drawbacks introduced by their use in typical manufacturing tasks. MATE and PAEXO Shoulder passive exoskeletons have been assessed during the execution of different working gestures among static, dynamic, and quasi-static tasks on 16 healthy volunteers. The obtained results confirm that the adoption of such systems significantly impacts the users by reducing the muscular load, increasing endurance, and reducing the perceived effort. Moreover, this analysis pointed out the specific benefits introduced by one exoskeleton with respect to the other according to the specific task. The MATE has the potential to reduce muscle load during the execution of static tasks. Conversely, the PAEXO Shoulder positively impacts the users’ biomechanical performances in dynamic tasks.
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id doaj-art-6c29c0bef3ad4ea484d80fceb286493a
institution DOAJ
issn 2631-7176
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Cambridge University Press
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series Wearable Technologies
spelling doaj-art-6c29c0bef3ad4ea484d80fceb286493a2025-08-20T03:15:39ZengCambridge University PressWearable Technologies2631-71762025-01-01610.1017/wtc.2025.10021Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasksFrancesco Scotto di Luzio0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9559-1805Christian Tamantini1Raffaele Di Maro2Chiara Carnazzo3Stefania Spada4Francesco Draicchio5Loredana Zollo6Research Unit of Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies, https://ror.org/04gqx4x78 Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma , Rome, ItalyResearch Unit of Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies, https://ror.org/04gqx4x78 Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma , Rome, Italy Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, ItalyResearch Unit of Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies, https://ror.org/04gqx4x78 Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma , Rome, ItalyStellantis SpA, Turin, ItalyStellantis SpA, Turin, ItalyDepartment of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, https://ror.org/01t264m74 INAIL , Rome, ItalyResearch Unit of Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies, https://ror.org/04gqx4x78 Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma , Rome, ItalyIn the last two decades, the adoption of exoskeletal devices for the reduction of the biomechanical overload of workers has hugely increased. They allow relief of the biomechanical load of the operator and ensure the operator’s contact with the object without binding its interaction. In this work, the biomechanical and physiological effects on the user wearing upper limb passive exoskeletons have been evaluated to highlight the benefits and possible drawbacks introduced by their use in typical manufacturing tasks. MATE and PAEXO Shoulder passive exoskeletons have been assessed during the execution of different working gestures among static, dynamic, and quasi-static tasks on 16 healthy volunteers. The obtained results confirm that the adoption of such systems significantly impacts the users by reducing the muscular load, increasing endurance, and reducing the perceived effort. Moreover, this analysis pointed out the specific benefits introduced by one exoskeleton with respect to the other according to the specific task. The MATE has the potential to reduce muscle load during the execution of static tasks. Conversely, the PAEXO Shoulder positively impacts the users’ biomechanical performances in dynamic tasks.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717625100212/type/journal_articlebiomechanical workloadmusculoskeletal disordersphysiological workloadhuman-robot collaboration
spellingShingle Francesco Scotto di Luzio
Christian Tamantini
Raffaele Di Maro
Chiara Carnazzo
Stefania Spada
Francesco Draicchio
Loredana Zollo
Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
Wearable Technologies
biomechanical workload
musculoskeletal disorders
physiological workload
human-robot collaboration
title Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
title_full Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
title_fullStr Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
title_full_unstemmed Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
title_short Biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
title_sort biomechanical and physiological effects of passive upper limb exoskeletons in simulated manufacturing tasks
topic biomechanical workload
musculoskeletal disorders
physiological workload
human-robot collaboration
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2631717625100212/type/journal_article
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