## 1 Introduction  
The long-term changes in the economy in the first, second and third industrial revolutions brought not only changes in technology or in the proportions of employment in agriculture, industry and services in developed economies, but also in industrial logic. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), observed in the third decade of the 21 st century, is based on communication, the use of networks, the Internet of Things and cyber physical systems. This represents a departure from the mass production of identical products manufactured on an assembly line. Reconfigurable manufacturing lines allow the mass customisation of products, i.e., the large-scale production of individualised products to order at even lower costs than before [1]. Such changes require not only the availability of technology, a longer time for introduction, social acceptance of their introduction and an appropriate business model. Industry starts to function almost as a service: technology is changing not only the manufacturing sector, but also services, in much the same way that cloud technology has changed the way IT (information technology) services are delivered (Infrastructure as a Service-IaaS, Platform as a Service-IaaS, Software as a Service-SaaS). The proliferation of digital industrial technology allows for more efficient collaboration in the operator-machine and machine-to-machine relationships. Smart technologies (big data, artificial intelligent analysis, cloud computing, horizontal and vertical integration, augmented reality, internet of things, 3D printing, autonomous robots, simulation and digital twins and cyber security) are not only changing the face of industrial production, but also of transport or eHealth, giving them new possibilities, including the autonomous operation of entire processes. Robots will become increasingly intelligent, including within the framework of the circular economy and human-robot collaboration [2]. The benefits of Industry 4.0 are: flexibility (scalability, modularity, management of production process variants, open production standards), speed (small batch, individualized production with optimal stocks and costs), efficiency and competitiveness (low costs with high innovation and no plant migration). Hence, smart factories, i.e., a combination of smart production, smart manufacturing services (including technical control throughout the production cycle and prediction of wear and tear and damage) and smart green machines, will become increasingly common. Hence the search for new design, manufacturing and business models (e.g., unification) that constitute a compromise between the need to reduce costs and the feasibility of a given production process. Markets open to products with specific parameters along with a quick response to changes in demand. The customer becomes an active participant in product design--they create their own product configuration from pre-designed (by the manufacturer) modules, and then such a product is manufactured. Reconfigurable production systems, ensuring efficiency and functionality tailored to the needs of customers and the dynamics of their changes, can even choose the place of implementation of the next stages of processing, taking into account the location of the target customer (it does not have to be the customer). This personalization covers the entire monitored product life cycle [3]. A mechatronic exoskeleton (wearable robot) is an external skeleton worn on the body or parts of the human body to support the human's movements passively (using elastic elements: rubbers or springs) or actively (using actuators). The origins of exoskeletons are quite long, deriving from mechanical active orthoses, but the first functioning exoskeletons were only constructed at the turn of the 20 th century thanks to advances in computer science and robotics. Despite advances in exoskeleton design, the greatest challenge remained the five-finger exoskeleton that supports the movements of the fingers of the hand.