Design and Evaluation of A Wearable Adaptable Setup System for
Occupational Exoskeletons
Authors: Alonso Moreno Franco Olmo , Park Daegeun , Di Natali Christian , Monica Luigi , Draicchio Francesco , Caldwell Darwin , Ortiz Jesus 
Published: July 2023

Background: Industrial activities depend upon tasks involving manual
material handling; these expose workers to considerable risk of injuries
causing low back pain and musculoskeletal disorders. A potential solution
for this problem presents the use of wearable robots known as exoskeletons.
Their purpose is to improve ergonomics and reduce the load on the lumbar
spine. Exoskeletons can be classified in two categories according to the
actuation type: (i) passive, and (ii) active. Active exoskeletons are based
on the principles of man-machine interaction and equipped with drive, sensor
and control systems. Such devices require system adaptation in diverse
scenarios to produce the proper assistive modulation forces for the user. A
novel solution is allowing the user access capabilities to certain areas of
the exoskeleton controller. The user command interface is a wearable
adaptable setup system device for occupational exoskeletons. This device
commands the interactions between the user and the exoskeleton to achieve
easy adjustments in the system.Purpose: In this paper we present the design
and evaluation of a human-machine interface called the User Command
Interface, a wearable device to access the different domains of the
exoskeleton control system. The interface is an electro-mechanical device
attached to the exoskeleton. Its design is divided into two software layers,
a hardware architecture and the mechanical interface. The main objective is
to control who has access to the exoskeleton and how some domains could be
modified without affecting the safety of the user and performance of the
exoskeleton. There are twenty actions you can perform using the device,
seven of them directly affect the exoskeleton's operation. Some examples of
the actions you can do are: (i) accessing the exoskeleton system using
fingerprint recognition, (ii) calibration (iii) parameters modification,
(iv) monitoring the exoskeleton's signals, and (v) displaying instructions
as safety rules or tutorials. Our group is focused in the design and
development of upper/lower-limbs active occupational exoskeletons such as
XoTrunk and Shoulder-sideWINDER.Methods: To assess the interface we
performed functionality, experience, and usability tests. We divided the
experiment according to the type of interactions (interface-only and
interface-exoskeleton interaction) between the user, the interface, and the
exoskeletons. The interface-only interaction evaluates the navigation
intuitiveness of the graphical layer and the functionality of user data-base
management. On the other hand, the interface-exoskeleton interaction
assesses the rapid parameter configuration during lifting tasks related to
real scenarios.Results: In total 52 test subjects participated in the study.
The evaluation was most frequently conducted using controlled tasks. The
study results are divided in: (I) subjective results (user pain points and
system usability scale), and (ii) completion time for activities. The
evidence shows that the assessment of the interface is a dynamic process.
There are statistically significant effects in terms of usability and the
completion time of the tasks.Conclusions: The interface allows simple access
to the exoskeleton's adjustments and user database management. After
evaluation, the device presents a solution for occupational exoskeleton
design matters when the user requires parameter modifications during task
performance.