User-Centred Design of Industrial Exoskeletons: Addressing Anthropometric Differences to Enhance Performance and Acceptance

Abstract: Industrial exoskeletons represent a transformative technology with significant potential to revolutionize worker conditions across various sectors by substantially reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries and work-related disorders[1]. By providing mechanical assistance and redistributing loads, these wearable robotic systems support the worker's natural movement pattern and reduce the stress on vulnerable body regions such as the spine and joints during physically demanding tasks[2]. This minimizes cumulative fatigue that leads to long-term health complications and enhances accessibility to physically intensive roles that require heavy lifting, repetitive motions, and prolonged static postures, by reducing physical barriers in the workforce[3]. Furthermore, industrial exoskeletons serve as powerful equalizers in the workforce, significantly reducing physical barriers that have historically limited access to specific heavy-duty occupations.This technological advancement has profound implications for workforce diversity and inclusion, particularly in promoting gender balance within traditionally male-dominated industries such as construction, manufacturing, logistics, and heavy machinery operations[4]. Exoskeletons enable a broader range of individuals to perform demanding manual labor safely and effectively, regardless of their natural physical capabilities and endurance[5]. This democratization of physical labor expands employment opportunities for underrepresented groups and addresses critical labor shortages in essential sectors[6].However, realizing this inclusive potential relies on applying human factors in the design and development of the exoskeletons. Industrial workers represent a diverse population with varying anthropometric characteristics, body types, sizes, and physiological differences across genders[7]. To accommodate the wide user range, many exoskeleton developers follow universal sizing strategies, which require developing various sizes of wearables and mechanical components to adapt the exoskeleton for different users. This prolongs development time and complicates manufacturing, thus increasing costs.Alternatively, others pursue a one-size-fits-all approach, designing a device that allows, in rough steps, size adjustment to accommodate all users in the broadest range possible. However, this may fail to adequately address individual users' nuanced biomechanical and ergonomic needs[8]. This compromise between commercial viability and user-specific optimization can result in suboptimal performance, reduced comfort, compromised safety, and ultimately limited adoption rates[9].The consequences of this oversimplified design approach become particularly pronounced when examining user acceptance rates, with evidence suggesting that inadequate customization leads to poor fitting and widespread rejection of exoskeleton technology among end users[10]. This challenge is especially acute when considering female body morphology, where fundamental differences in skeletal structure, muscle distribution, center of gravity, and joint mechanics require specialized design accommodations that generic solutions cannot adequately address[11],[12].The female body typically exhibits distinct anthropometric characteristics, including narrower shoulders, wider pelvic regions, different torso proportions, and varying limb-to-torso ratios compared to males. These factors significantly influence how exoskeletons interface with the body and distribute mechanical loads[13]. When exoskeletons are designed primarily around male anthropometric data or averaged measurements that fail to account for these biological differences, female users often experience poor fit, inadequate support, pressure points, restricted range of motion, and compromised biomechanical assistance[7], [14].To address these critical design shortcomings and advance toward truly inclusive exoskeleton technology, this paper comprehensively applies user-centered design principles to develop an enhanced human-machine interface for industrial exoskeletons. Specifically, we focus on redesigning the wearables (exoskeleton's harness components) that serve as the critical interface between the robotic system and the human body in our StreamEXO industrial exoskeleton platform.Method and Achievements: An active exoskeleton, StreamEXO, with continuously size-adjustable components, was developed to accommodate 90% of the target population, and stability and comfort were assessed during physical working activities. While static fitting was effective across genders, instability was observed in female users during dynamic tasks due to anthropometric differences. The redesign of the wearables with a user-centered approach, based on female-specific body characteristics, significantly improved fit and stability, with an increment of about 15% and reaching a score of 6 on a 7-point Likert scale in device acceptance in a formal test with 15 female subjects.

Keywords: User Centred Design, Industrial Exoskeletons, Wearable Technologies, Inclusive Technology, Ergonomics

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006851

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