Abstract

Occupational exoskeletons can help reduce physical demands, muscle fatigue, and risk of injury in manufacturing. While most previous studies have captured stakeholder perceptions after technology demonstrations, how actual experience of a variety of exoskeletons influences stakeholder perceptions is not clearly understood. This study captured the opinions of 22 participants from different manufacturing industries, about major concerns in their operations, interventions they had tried, exoskeleton expectations, steps involved in implementing new technologies, and adoption factors/barriers. They were interviewed before and after trying 7 different passive arm and back support exoskeletons, in addition to filling out usability questionnaires after each trial. Results indicated that even brief exposure to the exoskeletons can influence both worker and stakeholder perceptions on technology usefulness and safety positively, while worker concerns about usability and acceptability stayed. The usability surveys indicated strong support for SuitX BackX and ShoulderX in terms of ease of use, performance improvements and applicability.