Evaluating Occupational Exoskeleton Performance in Construction: Toward Standard Testing for the Construction Industry

Occupational exoskeletons (OEs) are wearable devices designed to assist and enable human motion for workers in industries ranging from manufacturing to construction. As with workers in other industries, the opportunity provided by OEs for construction workers is to reduce injury rates for the benefit of worker health and productivity. Potential risks also exist, including discomfort, compromised balance, snags, and increased stress in the unassisted regions of the body. The challenge comes in finding effective OEs for specific construction trades working on specific project types. To meet this challenge, this paper aims to develop a standardized OE efficacy evaluation framework for passive back-support exoskeletons (BSEs) for rebar workers. In-lab efficacy evaluation can lead to in-field effectiveness evaluation giving evidence for practical OE regulations, guidelines, and ergonomic risk indices to be used by the construction industry. The evaluation framework will include the assessment of a BSE’s effects on safety, productivity, and acceptability, including a tool for estimating an OE’s return on investment. The framework will allow for sensitivity analyses for human attributes, including gender, age, and workers with prior injuries. It is hoped that this work will provide an integral step toward large-scale OE adoption for the construction trades.