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Tank farm workers involved in nuclear cleanup activities perform physically demanding tasks, typically while wearing heavy personal protective equipment (PPE). Exoskeleton devices have the potential to bring considerable benefit to this industry but have not been thoroughly studied in the context of nuclear cleanup. In this paper, we examine the performance of exoskeletons during a series of tasks emulating jobs performed on tank farms while participants wore PPE commonly deployed by tank farm workers. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of commercially available lower-body exoskeletons on a user’s gait kinematics and user perceptions. Three participants each tested three lower-body exoskeletons in a 70-min protocol consisting of level treadmill walking, incline treadmill walking, weighted treadmill walking, a weight lifting session, and a hand tool dexterity task. Results were compared to a no exoskeleton baseline condition and evaluated as individual case studies. The three participants showed a wide spectrum of user preferences and adaptations toward the devices. Individual case studies revealed that some users quickly adapted to select devices for certain tasks while others remained hesitant to use the devices. Temporal effects on gait change and perception were also observed for select participants in device usage over the course of the device session. Device benefit varied between tasks, but no conclusive aggregate trends were observed across devices for all tasks. Evidence suggests that device benefits observed for specific tasks may have been overshadowed by the wide array of tasks used in the protocol.
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Occupational exoskeletons: Supporting diversity and inclusion goals with technology
Occupational exoskeletons are wearable devices that can augment a human worker's physical abilities. They are designed to protect the worker from physical stress and strain due to physically demanding tasks. They are also designed to increase a worker's ability to perform these tasks with less effort or to accommodate tasks with greater physical loads. There is a labor shortage for many physically demanding jobs in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and healthcare. Occupational exoskeletons may enable more women and older workers to qualify for these jobs. Literature reviews on occupational exoskeletons and workplace diversity and inclusion were conducted to explore how this technology can facilitate diversity and inclusion goals. Future research directions are discussed for exoskeleton design and how they might affect work identities and perceptions of organizational inclusion for women and older workers who pursue vocations in physically demanding work.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2128946
- PAR ID:
- 10531470
- Editor(s):
- Behrend, Tara; Ravid, Daniel; Rudolph, Cort W
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Vocational Behavior
- Edition / Version:
- 1
- Volume:
- 153
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0001-8791
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 104016
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Occupational exoskeletons diversity and inclusion technology women older workers
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: 476 KB Other: pdf
- Size(s):
- 476 KB
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104016
