Ergonomic Assessment of a Lower-Limb Exoskeleton through Electromyography and Anybody Modeling System

Yong-Ku Kong, Kyeong-Hee Choi, Min-Uk Cho, Seoung-Yoen Kim, Min-Jung Kim, Jin-Woo Shim, Sang-Soo Park, Kyung-Ran Kim, Min-Tae Seo, Hye-Seon Chae and Hyun-Ho Shim
Additional contact information
Yong-Ku Kong: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Kyeong-Hee Choi: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Min-Uk Cho: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Seoung-Yoen Kim: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Min-Jung Kim: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Jin-Woo Shim: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Sang-Soo Park: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Kyung-Ran Kim: National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju-si 54875, Korea
Min-Tae Seo: National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju-si 54875, Korea
Hye-Seon Chae: National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Jeonju-si 54875, Korea
Hyun-Ho Shim: Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the muscle load reduction of the upper extremities and lower extremities associated with wearing an exoskeleton, based on analyses of muscle activity (electromyography: EMG) and the AnyBody Modeling System (AMS). Twenty healthy males in their twenties participated in this study, performing bolting tasks at two working heights (60 and 85 cm). The muscle activities of the upper trapezius (UT), middle deltoid (MD), triceps brachii (TB), biceps brachii (BB), erector spinae (ES), biceps femoris (BF), rectus femoris (RF), and tibialis anterior (TA) were measured by EMG and estimated by AMS, respectively. When working at the 60 cm height with the exoskeleton, the lower extremity muscle (BF, RF, TA) activities of EMG and AMS decreased. When working at the 85 cm height, the lower extremity muscle activity of EMG decreased except for TA, and those of AMS decreased except for RF. The muscle activities analyzed by the two methods showed similar patterns, in that wearing the exoskeleton reduced loads of the lower extremity muscles. Therefore, wearing an exoskeleton can be recommended to prevent an injury. As the results of the two methods show a similar tendency, the AMS can be used.

Keywords: lower-limb exoskeleton; CEX; AnyBody Modeling System; working height; drilling task; work-related musculoskeletal disorders (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8088/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8088/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:8088-:d:853691

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().