Many occupations require workers to perform repetitive tasks such as lifting and bending that put significant strain on their bodies resulting in high levels of injury. Exoskeletons are one method of being able to decrease the forces on a worker while still allowing them to move.
In this research, I propose a novel exoskeleton design that integrates the design process with an ethical understanding of how technology is used in society and a potential plan for an interdisciplinary approach to better adoption of this type of assistive technology. The exoskeleton is based around a novel differential that allows the exoskeleton legs to articulate during ambulatory motion while providing automatic lifting engagement by linking the force-generating mechanisms in each leg. Using a differential also allows the integration of a custom support level that can be changed during the design to better fit the varying motions found in different professions such as farming and manufacturing. Testing for this design was performed by using farming-related tasks in a laboratory to understand the level of support provided by the exoskeleton. Results show the exoskeleton provides significant support for these tasks. This validation helps build trust in the technology before it is tested on actual farmers in real-world situations and helps minimize ethical concerns regarding potential exoskeleton use. I also discuss the ethical concerns and how they can be mitigated during the design and implementation phases to ensure workers are protected and improve overall buy-in to exoskeleton technology in the workplace. / Doctor of Philosophy / Many jobs require workers to perform tasks that put their bodies at risk of injuries such as repetitive lifting and bending. Exoskeletons, devices you can wear on your body to help you lift, are one solution to help workers do their jobs better and with less risk of getting injured.
In this research I propose a new type of exoskeleton that supports the back; designed, built, and tested it; and present much additional discussion about how people think and feel about exoskeletons and how society can ethically use them. The exoskeleton uses a new system that connects both legs to make it easier to go from walking to lifting, making it feel more natural and requiring less input from the user. With this design, we can also customize the lifting help for different jobs by switching out a component on the exoskeleton. This makes the exoskeleton customizable for the types of movement in different jobs like farming and manufacturing. Several farming tasks were then tested in a laboratory setting with the exoskeleton and showed it decreases the energy needed for the different tasks. Doing this testing also helps build trust with communities who might want to use the exoskeleton but are skeptical of new technology. Taking this approach and making the design adjustable is one step to helping to make this technology ethical when it is adopted by individuals or companies. Ethical considerations for exoskeletons are also new and not well discussed so I provide a framework to help make ethical decisions for adopting exoskeletons.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/108084 |
| Date | 01 February 2022 |
| Creators | Pote, Timothy Ryan |
| Contributors | Human Development, Asbeck, Alan T., Heflin, Ashley Shew, Niewolny, Kimberly L., Leonessa, Alexander |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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