## 1 Introduction
### Exoskeleton Technology and Its Emergence: A Brief Overview  
A robotic exoskeleton can be broadly defined as a wearable electromechanical device, or a wearable robotics-based solution designed primarily to enhance the physical performance, endurance, and abilities of the person wearing it [48]. The specific design, functionality, operation, and maintenance of these exoskeletons vary depending on their intended application [49]. In a generic manner, exoskeletons can be categorized into upper-limb exoskeletons and lower-limb exoskeletons [50,51]. Lower limb exoskeletons represent mechatronic systems that aid in walking, standing, and performing similar movements. Some recent examples of lower limb exoskeletons include the HAL exoskeleton, the EKSO exoskeleton, and the LOKOMAT exoskeleton [52, 53, 54]. Upper limb exoskeletons are electromechanical systems that are designed to interact with the user for the purpose of power amplification, assistance, or substitution of motor function [55]. A couple of examples of upper limb exoskeletons are Trackhold [56] and AmrmeoSpring [57]. Exoskeletons have been developed for specific body parts or joints in recent years. These include exoskeletons for knee [58], shoulder [59], elbow [60], ankle [61], waist [62], hip [63], neck [64], spine [65],wrist [66], and index finger [67] exoskeletons. The rapid advancement of exoskeleton technology is driven by its diverse range of applications and use cases. Some of these applications include assisting older adults and individuals with disabilities in their daily tasks, enhancing productivity and reducing fatigue in the military, improving the quality of life for amputees or those with paralysis in healthcare, aiding firefighters in climbing and lifting heavy equipment, increasing labor productivity, and assisting in the transportation of heavy machinery in Industry 4.0 settings [68; 69; 70].  
As of 2022, the exoskeleton market was valued at approximately USD 334.5 million, and this market is expected to grow at a rate of 16.9% every year, at least until 2030 [71; 72]. Looking at the exoskeleton market through the lens of mobility, the majority portion is occupied by mobile exoskeletons, which accounted for 61.4% of the market value in 2022. There are multiple use cases of mobile exoskeletons, such as walking after neurological surgery [73], assisting reluctant walkers and runners with lower body movements [74], and assisting individuals with some form of impairment or disability in the lower body to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Being able to perform ADLs in an independent manner is a crucial component of an individual's independent living [75; 76]. Through the technology lens, the powered segment accounted for the highest portion of revenue--73.9% in 2022. Based on the end-use segment, the healthcare segment was the principal sector, accounting for 50.6% of the revenue share in 2022. As for regions, North America dominated the market, accounting for 46.5% of the revenue share in 2022 [71].  
Thus, to summarize, the wide range of emerging use cases of exoskeletons in different domains [77; 78; 79; 80] contributes to a significant buzz about this technology on social media platforms, such as Twitter. No prior work in this area of research has analyzed Tweets about exoskeletons to interpret the underlying patterns of information and communication exchange. Furthermore, there has not been a study conducted thus far that aimed to infer the paradigms of user sentiments and trends of the same associated with exoskeleton technology. Addressing this research gap serves as the main motivation for this work. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. A comprehensive review of recent works in this field is presented in Section 2. Section 3 discusses the methodology that was followed for this work. The results and novel findings of this work are presented in Section 4. Section 5 presents a discussion of these results, which is followed by the conclusion in Section 6.