Quality, productivity, and economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use: A systematic review

The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the current state of knowledge on the quality and productivity of workers and their work while wearing exoskeletons, as well as the economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use. Following the PRISMA guidelines, six databases were systematically searched for relevant journal articles, written in English, and published since January 2000. Articles meeting the inclusion criteria had their quality assessed using JBI’s Checklist for Quasi-Experimental Studies (Non-Randomized Experimental Studies). A total of 6,722 articles were identified and 15 articles focusing on the impact of exoskeletons on quality and productivity of exoskeleton users while performing occupational tasks were included in this study. None of the included articles evaluated the economic implications of exoskeletons for occupational use. This study revealed several quality and productivity measures (e.g., endurance time, task completion time, number of errors, number of task cycles completed) used to evaluate the impact of exoskeletons. The current state of the literature suggests that quality and productivity impacts of exoskeleton use are dependent on task characteristics that should be considered when adopting exoskeletons. Future studies should evaluate the impact of exoskeleton use in the field and on a diverse pool of workers, as well as its economic implications to better support decision-making in the adoption of exoskeletons within organizations.