Chairless Chair Exoskeleton. Work-physiological-biomechanical Analysis of the Lower Extremities
Condition: Healthy
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Standing work is associated with increased risks of venous and musculoskeletal disorders;
      particularly low back pain is commonly reported in prolonged standing work. In manufacturing
      work, workstations often do not allow standing aids due to insufficient functional and
      spatial conditions. In 2014, the car manufacturer Audi introduced the lower leg exoskeleton
      developed by Noonee to their employees working in the factories. This exoskeleton, the
      'Chairless Chair' has the advantage that standing work can be performed while technically
      sitting on this device. The exoskeleton offers the potential for reduced awkward body
      postures, but it is unclear which physiological and biomechanical loads are influenced and
      how. This proposal provides a study design evaluating the 'Chairless Chair' in a laboratory
      setting, by testing its effectiveness in terms of physiological and biomechanical parameters.
      It is suggested to compare different assembly tasks while wearing the exoskeleton, compared
      with not wearing the exoskeleton. The 'Chairless Chair' is developed in one size only, which
      is why we propose to include participants of different body height, which will enable us to
      investigate whether body height influences the effectiveness of wearing the device.
    

Detailed description: 
      Each participant was exposed to all experimental conditions, which were the following:

        -  Standing without the exoskeleton

        -  Sitting with the exoskeleton

      For both experimental conditions, the working height was adjusted to the individual to become
      optimal. The working distance to the simulated assembly tasks was also adjusted to the
      individual to become optimal. Both the working height and distance were based on textual
      guidelines provided in DIN EN ISO 14738:2009-07.

      Each work cycle consisted of assembling and disassembling the following three tasks:

        -  Screwing

        -  Clip fitting

        -  Cable mounting

      In addition, we investigated suboptimal working heights and distances. The results of these
      suboptimal conditions will not be reported in the results on this website, but in a separate
      publication.
    

Intervention name(s): Exoskeleton "Chairless Chair"
Intervention type(s): Device
Intervention description(s): One solution to reduce the exposure of employees to associated risks for developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders is to use exoskeletons. Using such a device in dynamic environments has the advantage over, e.g., robotics because it does not need any programming or teaching of robots. Moreover, exoskeletons are worn at the body and do not have to overcome spatial issues. In a recent review, 26 different exoskeletons have been described of which only two were designed to support the lower body during heavy work (de Looze et al. 2015). For lower intensive work tasks, like assembly tasks in the automobile industry, no study has focused on using exoskeletons to relieve employees while performing the work standing.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Exoskeleton; Manual materials handling; Musculoskeletal disorders; Posture; Standing work; Muscle activity