Biomechanical assessment of the design and efficiency of occupational exoskeletons with the AnyBody Modeling System

  • Exoskeletons were invented over 100 years ago but have only become popular in the last two decades, especially in the working industry as they can decrease work-related loads significantly. The most often used exoskeletons are for the lower back and shoulder since these are commonly affected body regions. All devices have in common that their purpose is to reduce internal loads of vulnerable body regions. Nevertheless, there is still little understanding on how biomechanical loading in the human body changes when exoskeletons are used. Therefore, further analyses are needed. A promising candidate for these are musculoskeletal models, which are based on an inverse dynamics approach and can calculate external parameters such as ground reaction forces or other interaction forces as well as internal parameters such as joint reaction forces or muscle activities. The various examples in the literature show that these models are increasingly used for assessing the biomechanical effects of exoskeletons on the human body. Furthermore, musculoskeletal models can calculate biomechanical loadings of humans with and without exoskeletons for all kinds of applications and allow an evaluation of their purpose. Practical Relevance: This article highlights the possibilities of musculoskeletal models for assessing the design and efficiency of occupational exoskeletons. Several practical use cases are described along with distinct descriptions of common implications of musculoskeletal and exoskeleton modeling.

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Metadaten
Author:Simon AuerORCiD, Jonas Schiebl, Kristoffer Iversen, Divyaksh Subhash Chander, Michael Damsgaard, Sebastian DendorferORCiD
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s41449-022-00336-4
Parent Title (English):Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaften
Publisher:Springer Nature
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2022
Publishing Institution:Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg
Release Date:2022/11/28
Tag:Biomechanics; Ergonomics; Inverse dynamics; Motion capture
Volume:76
Issue:4
First Page:440
Last Page:449
Note:
Corresponding author: Sebastian Dendorfer
Institutes:Fakultät Maschinenbau
Regensburg Center of Biomedical Engineering - RCBE
Regensburg Center of Health Sciences and Technology - RCHST
Fakultät Maschinenbau / Labor Biomechanik (LBM)
Begutachtungsstatus:peer-reviewed
research focus:Lebenswissenschaften und Ethik
OpenAccess Publikationsweg:Hybrid Open Access - OA-Veröffentlichung in einer Subskriptionszeitschrift/-medium
Corresponding author der OTH Regensburg
Funding:DEAL Springer Nature
Licence (German):Creative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International