Abstract
Work related musculo-skeletal disorders represent a relevant percentage of occupational diseases in developed countries. Aside the laborers discomfort, they also reflect on companies with relevant economic effects. Nonetheless, the spread of exoskeletons for industrial applications is still limited. The reasons are to be sought on how they are perceived by workers: for many of them, their reduced mobility and not perfect adaptability to the kinematics of the human body make them more of a nuisance than a real help. The spread of wearable devices in industrial scenarios could bring advantages not only to jobs ergonomics and injuries assessment, but also to safety and risk management. The exoskeletons worn by labourers can be conceived as tools able to share quantitative data about the user posture and position within the working environment for active safety strategies and machines command. The object of the eXoft project is an active exoskeleton with innovative mechanical and actuation designs, conceived for integration in collaborative robotics environment. The purpose is to improve the comfort and safety of labourers tasked with heavy or repetitive jobs, while providing a tool for a safer integration of human-in-the-loop workflows.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Maurice, P., et al.: Objective and subjective effects of a passive exoskeleton on overhead work. IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 28(1), 152–164 (2019)
Landau, K., et al.: Musculoskeletal disorders in assembly jobs in the automotive industry with special reference to age management aspects. Int. J. Ind. Ergon. 38(7–8), 561–576 (2008)
Aziz, F.A., Ghazalli, Z., Mohamed, N.M.Z., Isfar, A.: Investigation on musculoskeletal discomfort and ergonomics risk factors among production team members at an automotive component assembly plant. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 257, p. 012040. IOP Publishing (2017)
Elprama, S.A., Vanderborght, B., Jacobs, A.: An industrial exoskeleton user acceptance framework based on a literature review of empirical studies. Appl. Ergon. 100, 103615 (2022)
Karvouniari, A., Michalos, G., Dimitropoulos, N., Makris, S.: An approach for exoskeleton integration in manufacturing lines using virtual reality techniques. Procedia CIRP 78, 103–108 (2018)
Bances, E., Schneider, U., Siegert, J., Bauernhansl, T.: Exoskeletons towards industrie 4.0: benefits and challenges of the IoT communication architecture. Procedia Manuf. 42, 49–56 (2020)
Gilchrist, A., Gilchrist, A.: Introduction to the industrial internet. Industry 4.0: The Industrial Internet of Things, pp. 1–12 (2016)
Nahavandi, S.: Industry 5.0-a human-centric solution. Sustainability 11(16), 4371 (2019)
Maddikunta, P.K.R., et al.: Industry 5.0: a survey on enabling technologies and potential applications. J. Ind. Inf. Integr. 26, 100257 (2022)
Kumar, S., Savur, C., Sahin, F.: Survey of human-robot collaboration in industrial settings: awareness, intelligence, and compliance. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Syst. 51(1), 280–297 (2020)
Ajoudani, A., et al.: Smart collaborative systems for enabling flexible and ergonomic work practices [industry activities]. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag. 27(2), 169–176 (2020)
Aggravi, M., Salvietti, G., Prattichizzo, D.: Haptic wrist guidance using vibrations for human-robot teams. In: 2016 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), pp. 113–118. IEEE (2016)
Bianchi, M.: A fabric-based approach for wearable haptics. Electronics 5(3), 44 (2016)
Zhu, M., Biswas, S., Dinulescu, S.I., Kastor, N., Hawkes, E.W., Visell, Y.: Soft, wearable robotics and haptics: technologies, trends, and emerging applications. Proc. IEEE 110(2), 246–272 (2022)
Noronha, B., Accoto, D.: Exoskeletal devices for hand assistance and rehabilitation: a comprehensive analysis of state-of-the-art technologies. IEEE Trans. Med. Robot. Bionics 3(2), 525–538 (2021)
Shi, K., Song, A., Li, H.: Optimized design for cable-driven shoulder-elbow exoskeleton robot. IEEE Access 9, 68197–68207 (2021)
Cao, Y., Huang, J.: Neural-network-based nonlinear model predictive tracking control of a pneumatic muscle actuator-driven exoskeleton. IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sini. 7(6), 1478–1488 (2020)
Reiman, A., Kaivo-oja, J., Parviainen, E., Takala, E.P., Lauraeus, T.: Human factors and ergonomics in manufacturing in the industry 4.0 context–a scoping review. Technol. Soc. 65, 101572 (2021)
Vazzoler, G., Bilancia, P., Berselli, G., Fontana, M., Frisoli, A.: Preliminary analysis and design of a passive upper limb exoskeleton. In: 2021 20th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), pp. 569–574. IEEE (2021)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Carbonari, L., Palomba, I., Solazzi, M., Visconte, C. (2024). eXoft, Innovative Soft-Rigid Exoskeleton for Smart Factory. In: Quaglia, G., Boschetti, G., Carbone, G. (eds) Advances in Italian Mechanism Science. IFToMM Italy 2024. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 164. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64569-3_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64569-3_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-64568-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-64569-3
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)