Although the level of automation in the automotive industry is currently high, real humans are still required for assembly tasks, for example, during overhead tasks. This type of work can cause injuries in workers in this sector, especially musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), being a cause for the inability to work in developed countries and, in turn, becoming a significant health problem. There is an aim to reduce the risk for these type of injuries during the development processes of this type of assembly operations. Various options are currently being considered where technology and the human factor can be combined. Among them, we find the object of study for this project, an exoskeleton.The aim of this project is to study the biomechanical effects as well as the ergonomics of a passive exoskeleton called Paexo Shoulder, developed by the company Ottobock, with the aim of relieving tensions in the shoulder joints and upper part of the shoulders, during its use in assembly tasks. For this purpose, an experiment will be designed in which several participants will carry out a series of tasks both with and without the exoskeleton, in such a way that the effects of its use and how they affect the users of the product can be observed. For this purpose, an experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of the use or non-use of this exoskeleton on 10 participants when performing a task similar to an overhead task in an assembly line. For the evaluation of the product, the Xsens motion capture system, in particular the Awinda model, was used together with the ScaleFit software to evaluate the results obtained through the motion capture recordings. In addition, in order to improve Digital Human Modelling (DHM) tools, the same task was simulated with the IPS-IMMA software, where the results were later analysed and compared with the motion capture results through ScaleFit.The results showed relatively large improvements in the respective moment reduction at the shoulder joint when using the exoskeleton. However, it was also observed that due to the upward force exerted by the exoskeleton on the arms, participants spent less time in low-risk areas evaluated by ScaleFit and therefore, this effect needs to be studied further.

Bad worker health leads to an unnecessary increase of absent days and loss of money, particularly the more physically demanding jobs as in industry. This can be seen in both a broader perspective and also in the suffering of the individual. In order to stop this trend and lower the work injuries connected to bad ergonomics good, reliable, and preferably digital, methods have to be generated and evaluated. The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate how Digital Human Modelling (DHM) tools can beused to evaluate physical ergonomics by building a real-life workstation in the DHM tool IPS IMMA. The workstation used here is based on a newly installed station at a large company placed in Skövde. This station was developed in collaboration of both technical specialists but also ergonomist consulting from the company Feelgood. The goal has therefore been to examine where in the process a DHM tool could be used and if it would contribute to the process. The methods chosen to investigate the use of DHM tools were to build a final model in IPS IMMA, which is based of four different versions of the workstation. By building four different versions of the workstation the process has simultaneously been analyzed and documented in order to compare the findings made in the program to the ones made in real life. The results have also been made in combination to finding the opportunities, challenges, and disadvantages with using DHM tools. The needed improvements within the DHM field have also been noted and discussed.

Future manufacturing will be characterized by the complementarity between humans and automation (human-robot collaboration). This requires new methods and tools for the design and operation of optimized manufacturing workplaces in terms of ergonomics, safety, efficiency, complexity management and work satisfaction. There have been some efforts in the recent years to propose a tool for determining optimal human-automation levels for load balancing. Although the topic is quite new, it shares some similarities with some of the existing research in the area of robotic assembly line balancing. Therefore, it is crucial to review the existing literature and find the most similar models and methods to facilitate the development of new optimization models and algorithms. One of the two contributions that this thesis gives to the research world in the RALBP context is a literature review that involves high quality articles from 1993 to beginning 2018. This literature review includes visual and comprehensive tables—and a label system— where previous research patterns and trends are highlighted. Visualization of data and results obtained by assembly line optimization tools is a very important topic that has rarely been studied. Data visualization would provide a: 1. better comprehension of patterns, trends and qualitative data 2. more constructive information absorption 3. better visualization of relationships and patterns between operations, and 4. better contribution to data manipulation and interaction. The second contribution to research found in this thesis is the use of a human modelling (DHM) tool (called IPS), which is proposed as an assessment to the ergonomic risk that a robotic assembly line may involve. This kind of studies are necessary in order to reduce one of the most frequent reasons of work absence in our today society i.e. musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs are often the result of poor work environments and they lead to reduced productivity and quality losses at companies. In view of the above, IPS was used in order to resolve the load handling problem between human and robot, depending on their skills and availability, while fulfilling essential ISO standards i.e. 15066 and 10218:1 and :2. The literature review made it possible to select highly useful documents in developing assumptions for the experiment and contributed to consider real features detected in the industry. Results show that even though IPS is not capable of calculating an entire robotic assembly with human-robot collaboration, it is able to simulate a workstation constituted of one robot and one human. Finite and assembly motions for both human and robot are expected to be implemented in future versions of the software. Finally, the main advantages of using DHM tools in assessing ergonomic risks in RALB can be extracted from the results of this thesis. This advantages include 1. ergonomic evaluation for assembly motions 2. ergonomic evaluation for a full working day (available in future version) and 3. essential ISO standard testing (available in future version).