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Garosi E, Kazemi Z, Mazloumi A, Keihani A. Changes in Neck and Shoulder Muscles Fatigue Threshold When Using a Passive Head/Neck Supporting Exoskeleton During Repetitive Overhead Tasks. HUMAN FACTORS 2023:187208231213728. [PMID: 37955578 DOI: 10.1177/00187208231213728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the effects of a head/neck supporting exoskeleton (HNSE) on the electromyographic fatigue threshold (EMGFT) of the neck and shoulder muscles during a simulated overhead work task. BACKGROUND Overhead work is a well-known risk factor for neck and shoulder musculoskeletal disorders due to the excessive strain imposed on the muscles and joints in these regions. METHOD Fourteen healthy males performed a repetitive overhead nut fastening/unfastening task to exhaustion while wearing and not wearing the HNSE at two neck extension angles (40% and 80% of neck maximum range of motion). Electromyographic signals were continuously recorded from the right and left sternocleidomastoid (SCMR, SCML), splenius capitis (SCR, SCL), upper trapezius (UTR, UTL), and anterior deltoid (ADR, ADL) muscles. The normalized electromyographic amplitude (nEMG) data was time normalized, and a bisegmental linear regression was applied to determine the muscle fatigue break point. RESULTS The results showed a significant increase in fatigue threshold time in the SCMR (p < .001), SCML (p = .002), and UTR (p = .037) muscles when the HNSE was used. However, the EMGFT times for the right and left deltoid and left trapezius muscles showed a nonsignificant reduction due to the head/neck support exoskeleton use. In addition, the neck extension angle did not reveal a significant effect on muscles' EMGFT time. CONCLUSION Overall, the findings confirmed a significant delay in fatigue onset in sternocleidomastoid muscles, as measured by the electromyographic fatigue threshold. This finding suggests that the HNSE can be an effective ergonomic intervention for reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in overhead workers. However, further studies are needed to investigate the effect of the HNSE at other neck extension angles and more realistic tasks to ensure the generalizability of our results. APPLICATION The present findings emphasize the application of the fatigue onset time to evaluate the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions, including exoskeletons, which can subsequently be utilized to alleviate postural demands and reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Garosi
- Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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Ojelade A, Morris W, Kim S, Kelson D, Srinivasan D, Smets M, Nussbaum MA. Three passive arm-support exoskeletons have inconsistent effects on muscle activity, posture, and perceived exertion during diverse simulated pseudo-static overhead nutrunning tasks. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2023; 110:104015. [PMID: 36933418 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.104015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Arm-support exoskeletons (ASEs) are an emerging technology with the potential to reduce physical demands during diverse tasks, especially overhead work. However, limited information is available about the effects of different ASE designs during overhead work with diverse task demands. Eighteen participants (gender-balanced) performed lab-based simulations of a pseudo-static overhead task. This task was performed in six different conditions (3 work heights × 2 hand force directions), with each of three ASEs and in a control condition (i.e., no ASE). Using ASEs generally reduced the median activity of several shoulder muscles (by ∼12-60%), changed working postures, and decreased perceived exertion in several body regions. Such effects, though, were often task-dependent and differed between the ASEs. Our results support earlier evidence of the beneficial effects of ASEs for overhead work but emphasize that: 1) these effects depend on the task demands and ASE design and 2) none of the ASE designs tested was clearly superior across the tasks simulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aanuoluwapo Ojelade
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Wallace Morris
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Sunwook Kim
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | | | - Divya Srinivasan
- Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
| | - Marty Smets
- Manufacturing Technology Development, Ford Motor Company, Glendale, MI, USA
| | - Maury A Nussbaum
- Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
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Fournier DE, Yung M, Somasundram KG, Du BB, Rezvani S, Yazdani A. Quality, productivity, and economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use: A systematic review. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287742. [PMID: 37368889 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the current state of knowledge on the quality and productivity of workers and their work while wearing exoskeletons, as well as the economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use. Following the PRISMA guidelines, six databases were systematically searched for relevant journal articles, written in English, and published since January 2000. Articles meeting the inclusion criteria had their quality assessed using JBI's Checklist for Quasi-Experimental Studies (Non-Randomized Experimental Studies). A total of 6,722 articles were identified and 15 articles focusing on the impact of exoskeletons on quality and productivity of exoskeleton users while performing occupational tasks were included in this study. None of the included articles evaluated the economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use. This study revealed several quality and productivity measures (e.g., endurance time, task completion time, number of errors, number of task cycles completed) used to evaluate the impact of exoskeletons. The current state of the literature suggests that quality and productivity impacts of exoskeleton use are dependent on task characteristics that should be considered when adopting exoskeletons. Future studies should evaluate the impact of exoskeleton use in the field and on a diverse pool of workers, as well as its economic implications to better support decision-making in the adoption of exoskeletons within organizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Fournier
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
| | - Marcus Yung
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kumara G Somasundram
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
| | - Bronson B Du
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sara Rezvani
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
| | - Amin Yazdani
- Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance, School of Business, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario, Canada
- School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Liang CJ, Cheng MH. Trends in Robotics Research in Occupational Safety and Health: A Scientometric Analysis and Review. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:ijerph20105904. [PMID: 37239630 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20105904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Revised: 05/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Robots have been deployed in workplaces to assist, work alongside, or collaborate with human workers on various tasks, which introduces new occupational safety and health hazards and requires research efforts to address these issues. This study investigated the research trends for robotic applications in occupational safety and health. The scientometric method was applied to quantitatively analyze the relationships between robotics applications in the literature. The keywords "robot", "occupational safety and health", and their variants were used to find relevant articles. A total of 137 relevant articles published during 2012-2022 were collected from the Scopus database for this analysis. Keyword co-occurrence, cluster, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analyses were conducted using VOSviewer to determine the major research topics, keywords, co-authorship, and key publications. Robot safety, exoskeletons and work-related musculoskeletal disorders, human-robot collaboration, and monitoring were four popular research topics in the field. Finally, research gaps and future research directions were identified based on the analysis results, including additional efforts regarding warehousing, agriculture, mining, and construction robots research; personal protective equipment; and multi-robot collaboration. The major contributions of the study include identifying the current trends in the application of robotics in the occupational safety and health discipline and providing pathways for future research in this discipline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ci-Jyun Liang
- Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
| | - Marvin H Cheng
- Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
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Kong YK, Kim JH, Shim HH, Shim JW, Park SS, Choi KH. Efficacy of passive upper-limb exoskeletons in reducing musculoskeletal load associated with overhead tasks. APPLIED ERGONOMICS 2023; 109:103965. [PMID: 36645995 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2023.103965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Overhead work can pose substantial musculoskeletal stress in many industrial settings. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of passive upper-limb exoskeletons in reducing muscular activity and subjective discomfort ratings. In a repeated-measures laboratory experiment, 20 healthy male participants performed 10-min drilling tasks with and without two passive upper-limb exoskeletons (VEX and Airframe). During the tasks, muscle activity in eight muscles (upper limb - upper trapezius, middle deltoid, biceps brachii, triceps brachii; low back - erector spinae; lower limb - rectus femoris, biceps femoris, tibialis anterior) was collected using electromyography as a physical exertion measure. Subjective discomfort rating in six body parts was measured using the Borg's CR-10 scale. The results showed that muscle activity (especially in the upper-limb muscles) was significantly decreased by 29.3-58.1% with both exoskeletons compared to no exoskeleton condition. The subjective discomfort ratings showed limited differences between the conditions. These findings indicate that passive upper-limb exoskeletons may have potential as an effective intervention to reduce muscular loading and physical exertion during overhead work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong-Ku Kong
- Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Jeong Ho Kim
- School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvalli, OR, USA; Environmental and Occupational Health, Oregon State University, Corvalli, OR, USA
| | - Hyun-Ho Shim
- Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Jin-Woo Shim
- Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Sang-Soo Park
- Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
| | - Kyeong-Hee Choi
- Digital Health Care R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan, South Korea.
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Brambilla C, Lavit Nicora M, Storm F, Reni G, Malosio M, Scano A. Biomechanical Assessments of the Upper Limb for Determining Fatigue, Strain and Effort from the Laboratory to the Industrial Working Place: A Systematic Review. Bioengineering (Basel) 2023; 10:bioengineering10040445. [PMID: 37106632 PMCID: PMC10135542 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10040445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent human-centered developments in the industrial field (Industry 5.0) lead companies and stakeholders to ensure the wellbeing of their workers with assessments of upper limb performance in the workplace, with the aim of reducing work-related diseases and improving awareness of the physical status of workers, by assessing motor performance, fatigue, strain and effort. Such approaches are usually developed in laboratories and only at times they are translated to on-field applications; few studies summarized common practices for the assessments. Therefore, our aim is to review the current state-of-the-art approaches used for the assessment of fatigue, strain and effort in working scenarios and to analyze in detail the differences between studies that take place in the laboratory and in the workplace, in order to give insights on future trends and directions. A systematic review of the studies aimed at evaluating the motor performance, fatigue, strain and effort of the upper limb targeting working scenarios is presented. A total of 1375 articles were found in scientific databases and 288 were analyzed. About half of the scientific articles are focused on laboratory pilot studies investigating effort and fatigue in laboratories, while the other half are set in working places. Our results showed that assessing upper limb biomechanics is quite common in the field, but it is mostly performed with instrumental assessments in laboratory studies, while questionnaires and scales are preferred in working places. Future directions may be oriented towards multi-domain approaches able to exploit the potential of combined analyses, exploitation of instrumental approaches in workplace, targeting a wider range of people and implementing more structured trials to translate pilot studies to real practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Brambilla
- Istituto di Sistemi e Tecnologie Industriali Intelligenti per il Manifatturiero Avanzato (STIIMA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Previati 1/E, 23900 Lecco, Italy
| | - Matteo Lavit Nicora
- Istituto di Sistemi e Tecnologie Industriali Intelligenti per il Manifatturiero Avanzato (STIIMA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Previati 1/E, 23900 Lecco, Italy
- Industrial Engineering Department, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Fabio Storm
- Bioengineering Laboratory, Scientific Institute, IRCCS “Eugenio Medea”, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Gianluigi Reni
- Informatics Department, Autonomous Province of Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Matteo Malosio
- Istituto di Sistemi e Tecnologie Industriali Intelligenti per il Manifatturiero Avanzato (STIIMA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Previati 1/E, 23900 Lecco, Italy
| | - Alessandro Scano
- Istituto di Sistemi e Tecnologie Industriali Intelligenti per il Manifatturiero Avanzato (STIIMA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Previati 1/E, 23900 Lecco, Italy
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Golmohammadpour H, Garosi E, Taheri M, Dehghan N, Ezbarami SM, Karanikas N. Redesign and ergonomic assessment of a chest-support baby walker. Work 2023; 76:737-747. [PMID: 37066957 DOI: 10.3233/wor-220440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Parents often use baby walkers (BWs) as assistive devices to improve their infants' independent movement and motor skill acquisition. However, the literature suggests that conventional baby walkers (CBW) may cause delays in an infant's ability to walk independently and musculoskeletal burden on parents. OBJECTIVE In the current study, a baby walker (RBW) with chest support was redesigned and ergonomically assessed during an infant-walking task. METHODS The anthropometric dimensions of 90 infants aged 7-11 months were measured in the city of Urmia, northwestern Iran. Following redesigning based on the results from expert panel meetings and prototyping of the RBW, 18 mothers (age: 28.33±4.27 and height: 163.75±5.32 and weight: 59.45±5.99) with their infants (9 boys and 9 girls) performed a simulated infant walking task in two experimental sessions using the CBW and RBW over a repeated measurements design. The infants' feet track patterns, including the number of steps and step distances were assessed via the image analysis of the footprints. The mothers' body posture and lower back spinal load were evaluated using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) technique and 3D Static Strength Prediction Program (3DSSPP), respectively. RESULTS Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed infants walked more steps with the RBW (p = 0.002). Similarly, the distance between the infants' left heel strike (p = 0.008) and their right and left toe-off (p = 0.03 and 0.02 respectively) was also significantly lower in the RBW use. Additionally, the body posture of mothers was improved (RULA final score from 7 for CBW to 5 for RBW). Moreover, lower back compression and shear forces were reduced significantly (p = 0.002) by the RBW use. CONCLUSION According to the feet track pattern, infants took more balanced steps when the RBW was used. In addition, mothers were subjected to less pressure on the lumbar region when they placed and lifted their infant from the RBW. However, further work is necessary to investigate potential long-term effects of the RBWs use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamedeh Golmohammadpour
- Department of Industrial and System Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Getzville, NY, USA
| | - Ehsan Garosi
- Department of Ergonomics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mostafa Taheri
- Department of Architecture, Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Naser Dehghan
- Ambient Intelligence Laboratory (AMI-Lab), Computer Science Department, Faculty of Science, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
| | | | - Nektarios Karanikas
- School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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