Relevance of hazards in exoskeleton applications: a survey-based enquiry

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation

Research

Jule Bessler¹  Carlos Rodriguez²  Dirk Lefeber²  Victor Grosu²  Jan F. Veneman³  Andrej Trošt⁴  Jan Babič⁴  Miha Dežman⁴  Diego Torricelli⁵  Stefano Massardi⁶  David Pinto-Fernandez⁷  Leendert Schaake⁸  Gerdienke Prange-Lasonder⁹ 

[1] Department of Biomedical Signals and Systems, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands;Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, The Netherlands;Department of Mechanical Engineering, Robotics & Multibody Mechanics Research Group (R&MM), and Flanders Make, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium;Hocoma Medical GmbH, Zurich, Switzerland;Laboratory for Neuromechanics and Biorobotics, Department for Automation, Biocybernetics, and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia;Neural Rehabilitation Group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain;Neural Rehabilitation Group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain;Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia (DIMI), Brescia, Italy;Neural Rehabilitation Group of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain;Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, The Netherlands;Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, The Netherlands;Department of Biomechanical Engineering, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands;

关键词: Exoskeletons;    Physical assistant robots;    Wearable robots;    Hazards;    Hazardous events;    Safety;    Risk assessment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12984-023-01191-y

 received in 2022-03-31, accepted in 2023-05-10,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Exoskeletons are becoming the reference technology for assistance and augmentation of human motor functions in a wide range of application domains. Unfortunately, the exponential growth of this sector has not been accompanied by a rigorous risk assessment (RA) process, which is necessary to identify the major aspects concerning the safety and impact of this new technology on humans. This situation may seriously hamper the market uptake of new products. This paper presents the results of a survey that was circulated to understand how hazards are considered by exoskeleton users, from research and industry perspectives. Our analysis aimed to identify the perceived occurrence and the impact of a sample of generic hazards, as well as to collect suggestions and general opinions from the respondents that can serve as a reference for more targeted RA. Our results identified a list of relevant hazards for exoskeletons. Among them, misalignments and unintended device motion were perceived as key aspects for exoskeletons’ safety. This survey aims to represent a first attempt in recording overall feedback from the community and contribute to future RAs and the identification of better mitigation strategies in the field.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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