Exoskeleton-Assisted Balance and Task Evaluation During Quiet Stance and Kneeling in Construction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sreenivasan, Gayatri, Zhu, Chunchu, Yi, Jingang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Sreenivasan, Gayatri
Zhu, Chunchu
Yi, Jingang
author_facet Sreenivasan, Gayatri
Zhu, Chunchu
Yi, Jingang
contents Construction workers exert intense physical effort and experience serious safety and health risks in hazardous working environments. Quiet stance and kneeling are among the most common postures performed by construction workers during their daily work. This paper analyzes lower-limb joint influence on neural balance control strategies using the frequency behavior of the intersection point of ground reaction forces. To evaluate the impact of elevation and wearable knee exoskeletons on postural balance and welding task performance, we design and integrate virtual- and mixed-reality (VR/MR) to simulate elevated environments and welding tasks. A linear quadratic regulator-controlled triple- and double-link inverted pendulum model is used for balance strategy quantification in quiet stance and kneeling, respectively. Extensive multi-subject experiments are conducted to evaluate the usability of occupational exoskeletons in destabilizing construction environments. The quantified balance strategies capture the significance of knee joint during balance control of quiet stance and kneeling gaits. Results show that center of pressure sway area reduced up to 62% in quiet stance and 39% in kneeling for subjects tested in high-elevation VR/MR worksites when provided knee exoskeleton assistance. The comprehensive balance and multitask evaluation methodology developed aims to reveal exoskeleton design considerations to mitigate the fall risk in construction.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_07795
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exoskeleton-Assisted Balance and Task Evaluation During Quiet Stance and Kneeling in Construction
Sreenivasan, Gayatri
Zhu, Chunchu
Yi, Jingang
Robotics
Construction workers exert intense physical effort and experience serious safety and health risks in hazardous working environments. Quiet stance and kneeling are among the most common postures performed by construction workers during their daily work. This paper analyzes lower-limb joint influence on neural balance control strategies using the frequency behavior of the intersection point of ground reaction forces. To evaluate the impact of elevation and wearable knee exoskeletons on postural balance and welding task performance, we design and integrate virtual- and mixed-reality (VR/MR) to simulate elevated environments and welding tasks. A linear quadratic regulator-controlled triple- and double-link inverted pendulum model is used for balance strategy quantification in quiet stance and kneeling, respectively. Extensive multi-subject experiments are conducted to evaluate the usability of occupational exoskeletons in destabilizing construction environments. The quantified balance strategies capture the significance of knee joint during balance control of quiet stance and kneeling gaits. Results show that center of pressure sway area reduced up to 62% in quiet stance and 39% in kneeling for subjects tested in high-elevation VR/MR worksites when provided knee exoskeleton assistance. The comprehensive balance and multitask evaluation methodology developed aims to reveal exoskeleton design considerations to mitigate the fall risk in construction.
title Exoskeleton-Assisted Balance and Task Evaluation During Quiet Stance and Kneeling in Construction
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.07795