Why Exoskeletons Matter for Workplace Safety
Exoskeletons help address common workplace injury risk factors such as overexertion, musculoskeletal loading, and lifting demands. By supporting the body during these movements, exoskeletons can reduce physical stress and fatigue, which helps reduce injury risk, turnover, and lost productivity. Exoskeletons complement, rather than replace, traditional ergonomic controls.
How Exoskeletons Work
Exoskeletons act like an artificial set of muscles. They generate mechanical force and torque in parallel with a user’s muscles, so that the person experiences less bodily strain and fatigue. In short, exoskeletons are wearable load-management tools. Exoskeletons do not remove the need for a worker to use their muscles and they do not cause muscle weakness, they just make tough work more sustainable.
Exoskeleton vs Exosuit
Exoskeleton refers to the broad category of wearable devices that augment, enable, assist, or enhance motion, posture, or physical activity through mechanical interaction with a user's body. Exoskeletons can be rigid or soft and powered or passive. They vary widely in size, complexity, price and purpose.
Exosuits are soft exoskeletons meaning they are exoskeletons made primarily of soft and flexible elements like textiles and elastic materials. So all exosuits are exoskeletons, but not all exoskeletons are exosuits.
Soft exosuits are typically lightweight, flexible, and designed to maximize comfort and freedom of movement for all-day wear. Rigid exoskeletons are made from hard frames and are suitable for some specialized tasks.
Why Exoskeletons Matter for Workplace Safety
Exoskeletons help address common workplace injury risk factors such as overexertion, musculoskeletal loading, and lifting demands. By supporting the body during these movements, exoskeletons can reduce physical stress and fatigue, which helps reduce injury risk, turnover, and lost productivity. Exoskeletons complement, rather than replace, traditional ergonomic controls.
How Exoskeletons Work
Exoskeletons act like an artificial set of muscles. They generate mechanical force and torque in parallel with a user's muscles, so that the person experiences less bodily strain and fatigue. In short, exoskeletons are wearable load-management tools. Exoskeletons do not remove the need for a worker to use their muscles and they do not cause muscle weakness, they just make tough work more sustainable.
Exoskeleton vs Exosuit
Exoskeleton refers to the broad category of wearable devices that augment, enable, assist, or enhance motion, posture, or physical activity through mechanical interaction with a user's body. Exoskeletons can be rigid or soft and powered or passive. They vary widely in size, complexity, price and purpose.
Exosuits are soft exoskeletons meaning they are exoskeletons made primarily of soft and flexible elements like textiles and elastic materials. So all exosuits are exoskeletons, but not all exoskeletons are exosuits.
Soft exosuits are typically lightweight, flexible, and designed to maximize comfort and freedom of movement for all-day wear. Rigid exoskeletons are made from hard frames and are suitable for some specialized tasks.
What an Exoskeleton Is NOT
- An exoskeleton is NOT a humanoid robot or automation system, nor is it a Hollywood superhero suit. It does not replace workers or allow them to lift beyond safe limits.
- An exoskeleton is NOT a back belt or brace. It’s a fundamentally different category of wearable back support.
- An exoskeleton is NOT a substitute for an ergonomics program or the proper use of the hierarchy of controls.
- An exoskeleton is NOT always rigid, bulky, or robotic. In fact, most modern industrial exoskeletons are passive (unpowered), meaning they assist without motors or batteries. Instead, they use elastic components, for instance, to store energy when a worker bends and return it to assist during lifting.
- An exoskeleton is also NOT a one-size-fits-all solution. Sustained success depends on proper task matching, device fit, sizing, comfort, and implementation in the workplace.
An exoskeleton is simply a wearable device that augments, enables, assists, or enhances physical activity through mechanical interaction with the body.