Working Life Department, French National Research and Safety Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents and Diseases (INRS), 1 Rue du Morvan, 54500, Vandœuvre-Les-Nancy, France.
Université de Lorraine, DevAH, 54000, Nancy, France.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2022 Dec;122(12):2575-2583. doi: 10.1007/s00421-022-05034-x. Epub 2022 Sep 8.
The objective of this laboratory study was to assess the cardiorespiratory consequences related to the use of different back-support exoskeletons during a repetitive lifting task. Fourteen women and thirteen men performed a dynamic stoop lifting task involving full flexion/extension of the trunk in the sagittal plane. This task was repeated for 5 min with a 10 kg load to handle. Four conditions were tested: with a passive exoskeleton (P-EXO), with two active exoskeletons (A-EXO1 and A-EXO2), as well as without exoskeleton (FREE). The oxygen consumption rate and cardiac costs were measured continuously. Results showed a significantly lower (p < 0.05) oxygen consumption rate for all exoskeletons as compared to FREE (12.6 ± 2.2 ml/kg/min). The values were also significantly lower (p < 0.001) for A-EXO1 (9.1 ± 1.8 ml/kg/min) compared to A-EXO2 (11.0 ± 1.8 ml/kg/min) and P-EXO (11.8 ± 2.4 ml/kg/min). Compared to FREE (59.7 ± 12.9 bpm), the cardiac cost was significantly reduced (p < 0.001) only for A-EXO1 (45.1 ± 11.5 bpm). Several factors can explain these differences on the cardiorespiratory parameters observed between exoskeletons: the technology used (passive vs active), the torque provided by the assistive device, the weight of the system, but also the level of anthropomorphism (related to the number of joints used by the exoskeleton). Our results also highlighted the lack of interaction between the exoskeleton and sex. Thereby, the three back-support exoskeletons tested appeared to reduce the overall physical workload associated with a repetitive lifting task both for men and women.
本实验室研究的目的是评估在重复举重任务中使用不同背部支撑式外骨骼时与心肺相关的后果。十四名女性和十三名男性进行了一项动态弯腰举重任务，涉及到在矢状面完全屈伸躯干。这个任务用 10 公斤的负荷重复进行了 5 分钟。共测试了四种条件：使用被动外骨骼（P-EXO）、两种主动外骨骼（A-EXO1 和 A-EXO2）以及没有外骨骼（FREE）。连续测量耗氧量和心脏成本。结果表明，与 FREE（12.6±2.2ml/kg/min）相比，所有外骨骼的耗氧量明显更低（p<0.05）。与 A-EXO2（11.0±1.8ml/kg/min）和 P-EXO（11.8±2.4ml/kg/min）相比，A-EXO1（9.1±1.8ml/kg/min）的数值也明显更低（p<0.001）。与 FREE（59.7±12.9bpm）相比，只有 A-EXO1（45.1±11.5bpm）的心脏成本明显降低（p<0.001）。观察到的外骨骼之间心肺参数的差异可能有几个因素可以解释：所使用的技术（被动与主动）、辅助设备提供的扭矩、系统的重量以及拟人化程度（与外骨骼使用的关节数量有关）。我们的结果还强调了外骨骼和性别之间缺乏相互作用。因此，测试的三种背部支撑式外骨骼似乎减少了男女重复举重任务的整体体力工作量。
