# Skilled Workers' Perspectives on Utilizing a Passive Shoulder Exoskeleton in Construction
## 3 Results  
In this study, 80% of the participants were under the age of 35 (mean = 30; SD = 11), and their experience working in construction ranged from no experience to 33 years, with a mean of 5.5 years (SD = 7.2; Tables 1 and 2). Fourteen participants worked on residential construction sites, seven on ICI sites, thirteen worked in modular construction, and seven worked in civil construction (i.e., bridge maintenance and repair). The majority of participants identified themselves as general carpenters (34%), electricians (22%), drywall, acoustic, and lathing applicators (20%), or skilled laborers (17%). Other trades included two (low-rise) sheet metal installers and one drywall finisher. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & \multicolumn{8}{c}{**Construction Worksite**} \\ \cline{3-10}
**Individual Factors** & **Overall, N = 41** & **Site A** & **Site B** & **Site C** & **Site D** & **Site E** & **Site F** & **Site G** \\  & **N = 41** & **(ICD), n = 7** & **(ICD)** & **(Modular), n = 10** & **(Res.), n = 7** & **(Residen-), n = 5** & **(Residen-), n = 2** & **(Modular), n = 3** & **(Civil), n = 7** \\ \hline
**Sex** & & & & & & & & \\ \hline Female & 3 (7.3\%) & 0 (0\%) & 3 (30\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline Male & 38 (93\%) & 7 (100\%) & 7 (70\%) & 7 (100\%) & 5 (100\%) & 2 (100\%) & 3 (100\%) & 7 (100\%) \\ \hline
**Age (years)** & 30 \(\pm\) 11 & 33 \(\pm\) 6 & 30 \(\pm\) 11 & 26 \(\pm\) 10 & 23 \(\pm\) 4 & 54 \(\pm\) 10 & 38 \(\pm\) 16 & 24 \(\pm\) 3 \\ \hline
**Age Group** & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \(\leq\)25 & 19 (46\%) & 0 (0\%) & 5 (50\%) & 5 (71\%) & 4 (80\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (33\%) & 4 (57\%) \\ \hline
26–35 & 14 (34\%) & 5 (71\%) & 4 (40\%) & 1 (14\%) & 1 (20\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 3 (43\%) \\ \hline
36–45 & 3 (7.3\%) & 2 (29\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (33\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline
46–55 & 3 (7.3\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (14\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (50\%) & 1 (33\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline \(\geq\)56 & 2 (4.9\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (50\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline
**Height (cm)** & 178 \(\pm\) 9 & 176 \(\pm\) 8 & 173 \(\pm\) 10 & 181 \(\pm\) 8 & 175 \(\pm\) 7 & 179 \(\pm\) 9 & 185 \(\pm\) 7 & 184 \(\pm\) 5 \\ \hline
**Weight (kg)** & 81 \(\pm\) 14 & 76 \(\pm\) 7 & 81 \(\pm\) 20 & 81 \(\pm\) 6 & 71 \(\pm\) 15 & 106 \(\pm\) 5 & 88 \(\pm\) 9 & 83 \(\pm\) 14 \\ \hline
**BMI (kg/m2)** & 25.5 \(\pm\) 4.9 & 24.7 \(\pm\) 2.3 & 27.1 \(\pm\) 7.2 & 24.7 \(\pm\) 2.8 & 23.2 \(\pm\) 5.0 & 33.1 \(\pm\) 4.8 & 25.5 \(\pm\) 1.3 & 24.4 \(\pm\) 3.9 \\ \hline
**BMI Classification** & & & & & & & \\ \hline Underweight (<18.5) & 2 (4.9\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (20\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline Healthy weight (18.5 to \(\angle\)25) & 21 (51\%) & 4 (57\%) & 5 (50\%) & 4 (57\%) & 2 (40\%) & 0 (0\%) & 2 (67\%) & 4 (57\%) \\ \hline Overweight (25 to \(\angle\)30) & 14 (34\%) & 3 (43\%) & 1 (10\%) & 3 (43\%) & 2 (40\%) & 1 (50\%) & 1 (33\%) & 3 (43\%) \\ \hline Class 1 Obese (30 to \(\angle\)35) & 1 (2.4\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline Class 2 Obese (35 to \(\angle\)40) & 2 (4.9\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (50\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline Class 3 Obese (\(\geq\)40) & 1 (2.4\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline
**Dominant Hand** & & & & & & & & \\ \hline Left & 4 (9.8\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 2 (29\%) & 1 (20\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) \\ \hline Right & 37 (90\%) & 7 (100\%) & 9 (90\%) & 5 (71\%) & 4 (80\%) & 2 (100\%) & 3 (100\%) & 7 (100\%) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{1}\) n (\%): Mean \(\pm\) SD.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Individual characteristics of the study sample (N= 41), categorized by worksite. Participants typically worked 8-10 h each day for a total of 40 h per week. They all had a 30 min lunch break, and 15 min breaks in the morning and afternoon. Participants reported morning and afternoon tasks, and the proportion of exoskeleton usage time (Supplementary Material C).