Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire: a preliminary evaluation questionnaire for the lower limb industrial exoskeletons

TY - JOUR

T1 - Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire

T2 - a preliminary evaluation questionnaire for the lower limb industrial exoskeletons

AU - Hussain, Muhammad

AU - Kong, Yong-Ku

AU - Park, Sang-Soo

AU - Shim, Hyun-Ho

AU - Park, Jaehyun

PY - 2023/12/19

Y1 - 2023/12/19

N2 - Exoskeleton robots are a promising solution to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in different work environments, but a specific usability scale for evaluating them is lacking. This study aimed to develop and verify a preliminary Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire (EUQ) for the lower limb exoskeletons by creating a draft survey questionnaire from existing questions in prior studies. An experiment was conducted with 20 participants who performed a specific task while wearing three lower limb robots and provided subjective feedback using the developed questionnaire. Data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), resulting in a usability evaluation questionnaire for exoskeleton robots clustered into four main factors: mobility, adjustability, handling and safety. This study’s findings are expected to be useful in evaluating the usability of the lower limb exoskeletons in both general production sites and agricultural work, which can aid in reducing the prevalence of lower limb MSDs.

AB - Exoskeleton robots are a promising solution to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in different work environments, but a specific usability scale for evaluating them is lacking. This study aimed to develop and verify a preliminary Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire (EUQ) for the lower limb exoskeletons by creating a draft survey questionnaire from existing questions in prior studies. An experiment was conducted with 20 participants who performed a specific task while wearing three lower limb robots and provided subjective feedback using the developed questionnaire. Data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), resulting in a usability evaluation questionnaire for exoskeleton robots clustered into four main factors: mobility, adjustability, handling and safety. This study’s findings are expected to be useful in evaluating the usability of the lower limb exoskeletons in both general production sites and agricultural work, which can aid in reducing the prevalence of lower limb MSDs.

KW - Exoskeleton

KW - usability

KW - evaluation questionnaire

UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2023.2289856

U2 - 10.1080/00140139.2023.2289856

DO - 10.1080/00140139.2023.2289856

M3 - Article

SN - 0014-0139

VL - 67

SP - 1198

EP - 1207

JO - Ergonomics

JF - Ergonomics

IS - 9

ER -