Active back exosuits demonstrate positive usability perceptions that drive intention-to-use in the field among logistic warehouse workers.

Back exosuits offer the potential to reduce occupational back injuries but require in-field acceptance and use to realize this potential. For this study, 146 employees trialed an active back exosuit in the field for 4 h, completing an acceptance usability survey. Comparing the 80% of employees willing to continue wearing this device (N = 117) to those who were not (N = 29) revealed that employees willing to wear this device for a longer-term study generally were more likely to perceive this back exosuit to be effective (helpful) and compatible (minimally disruptive) to their everyday work.

Musculoskeletal models determine the effect of a soft active exosuit on muscle activations and forces during lifting and lowering tasks.

Exosuits have the potential to mitigate musculoskeletal stress and prevent back injuries during industrial tasks. This study aimed to 1) validate the implementation of a soft active exosuit into a musculoskeletal model of the spine by comparing model predicted muscle activations versus corresponding surface EMG measurements, and 2) evaluate the effect of the exosuit on peak back and hip muscle forces. Fourteen healthy participants performed squat and stoop lift and lower tasks with boxes of 6 and 10 kg, with and without wearing a 2.

The effect of a soft active back support exosuit on trunk motion and thoracolumbar spine loading during squat and stoop lifts.

Back support exosuits aim to reduce tissue demands and thereby risk of injury and pain. However, biomechanical analyses of soft active exosuit designs have been limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a soft active back support exosuit on trunk motion and thoracolumbar spine loading in participants performing stoop and squat lifts of 6 and 10 kg crates, using participant-specific musculoskeletal models.

Evaluating adaptiveness of an active back exosuit for dynamic lifting and maximum range of motion.

Back exosuits deliver mechanical assistance to reduce the risk of back injury, however, minimising restriction is critical for adoption. We developed the adaptive impedance controller to minimise restriction while maintaining assistance by modulating impedance based on the user's movement direction and nonlinear sine curves. The objective of this study was to compare active assistance, delivered by a back exosuit via our adaptive impedance controller, to three levels of assistance from passive elastics.

An Esthetic Scoring System for Scaphocephaly Assessment and Outcomes: A Pilot Study.

Scaphocephaly is the commonest form of craniosynostosis with a varied presentation consisting of many morphological components and a range of possible surgical interventions. However, with regard to esthetic assessment, there is no universally applied assessment system. The aim was to develop a simple assessment tool encompassing multiple phenotypic components of scaphocephaly.