Robert Weidner

• Helmut Schmidt University

This paper explores a five-axis printing method designed to improve the fabrication of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs), essential for producing lightweight, complex structures in advanced manufacturing. Traditional CFRTPC placement techniques often face challenges with precision, scalability, and optimal fiber orienta...

The intricate structure of human hands requires personalized orthotic treatments, especially with the growing aging population’s demand for accessible care. While traditional orthoses are effective, they face challenges of cost, customization time, and accessibility. Additive manufacturing, particularly material extrusion (MEX) techniques, can effe...

Introduction and Purpose Space exploration is transitioning to a new era. NASA’s Artemis program is spearheading crewed missions to the Moon in the next decade, paving the way for eventual human exploration of Mars (Smith et al., 2020). However, space missions further afar from Earth require a shift in operational concepts towards an increasingly a...

The extensive body of research dedicated to optimizing energy consumption and efficiency in the manufacturing sector demonstrates a significant and well-established legacy. Despite a peak of publications in this field over recent years, the subject of reusing residual energy is only infrequently discussed. Where authors target this topic, research...

Working at and above head height with a power tool represents a common activity in craft and assembly applications. To assist and protect the user from overload and injuries in these situations, the development and use of application-specific support systems, such as exoskeletons and power tools, have greatly increased in recent years. Thus, the in...

Assistive devices like exoskeletons undergo extensive testing not least because of their close interaction with humans. Conducting user studies is a time-consuming process that demands expert knowledge, and it is accompanied by challenges such as low repeatability and a potential lack of comparability between studies. Obtaining objective feedback o...

Simulation models are a valuable tool for exoskeleton development, especially for system optimization and evaluation. It allows an assessment of the performance and effectiveness of exoskeletons even at an early stage of their development without physical realization. Due to the closed physical interaction between the exoskeleton and the user, accu...

Inhalt Industrielle Exoskelette können Mitarbeitende bei der Ausführung manueller Tätigkeiten an Arbeitsplätzen unterstützen. Je nach Anwendungsgebiet zeigen Exoskelette eine unterschiedliche Gestalt und Unterstützungscharakteristik auf, die aus der Berücksichtigung verschiedener Aspekte bei der menschzentrierten Systementwicklung resultieren und a...

The use of exoskeletons offers the potential to shape future work processes within human-centered industrial environments. Exoskeletons are wearable devices that can physically support workers during manual tasks by alleviating physical stress, stabilizing body postures, and enhancing worker well-being. Based on recent research from empirical studi...

Die erfolgreiche Auswahl eines industriellen Exoskeletts erfordert für den Selektionsprozess eine fundierte Kenntnis über die betrachteten Arbeitsaufgaben. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet zuerst den Status Quo bei Vorgehensweisen zur Auswahl eines Exoskelettes. Folgend wird ein Ansatz zur Überbrückung der Informationslücke zwischen der Aufnahme von Beweg...

Human-centered support systems become increasingly important in future workplaces due to, e.g., demographic and societal changes, skills shortage, and global competitiveness. In this context, industrial exoskeletons can be a promising approach especially for physically demanding tasks with manual handlings. Targeted to the addressed application sce...

Medical assistive devices such as orthoses and prostheses (O &P) are essential for people with physical limitations to provide them with more active, productive and independent lives. However, studies show that the rejection rate of O &P is high, mostly due to the lack of comfort caused by improper fitting and the usage of rigid materials. Additive...

Occupational shoulder exoskeletons need to provide meaningful torques to achieve the desired support, thereby high pressures can occur within the physical human–machine interface (pHMI) of exoskeletons that may lead to discomfort, pain, or soft tissue injuries. This pilot study investigates the effects of occurring circumferential pressures within...

Since musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common work-related diseases for assemblers and machine operators, it is crucial to find new ways to alleviate the physical load on workers. Support systems such as exoskeletons or handheld power tools are promising technology to reduce the physical load on the humans. The development of such syst...

A concept of how load imposed by an exoskeleton on the upper arm affects shoulder torque is given using a mechanical mock-up of the shoulder-arm-system and a serial kinematic robot. System identification methods for linear surrogate models of the human shoulder-arm-system and their embeddings in control loops are introduced. Early measurements of a...

Beside the advancing trends in automation especially in regard to Industry 4.0, workers in industrial factories in non-automated work activities often face repetitive tasks with heavy workloads. Whenever methods or adaptions in both technology and organization are insufficient to optimize working conditions, personal-related interventions as exoske...

In recent years, the number of industrial exoskeletons has significantly increased. As a large share of assembly tasks still requires the execution of manual work, exoskeletons may help provide support to users and, thus, reduce physical strain on the human musculoskeletal system. However, exoskeletons still lack empirical evidence on their potenti...

Unterstützungssysteme wie Exoskelette werden als eine mögliche Maßnahme zur erfolgreichen Bewältigung des demografischen Wandels in industriellen Arbeitsprozessen eingesetzt. Dessen Gestaltung, beispielsweise im Hinblick auf die Unterstützungscharakteristik, kann durch den Einsatz von Muskelskelettmodellen profitieren. Durch Aggregation relevanter...

Musculoskeletal disorders constitute the leading work-related health issue. Mechanical loading of the lower back contributes as a major risk factor and is prevalent in many tasks performed in logistics. The study aimed to compare acute effects of exoskeletons with different functional mechanisms in a logistic task. Twelve young, healthy individuals...

The fifth industrial revolution and the accompanying influences of digitalization are presenting enterprises with significant challenges. Regardless of the trend, however, humans will remain a central resource in future factories and will continue to be required to perform manual tasks. Against the backdrop of, e.g., societal and demographic change...

Industrial exoskeletons aim to physically support humans in individual support situations. One challenge exists in providing a comfortable fit and an appropriate support for specific users and tasks. As part of the DTEC-research project "EVO-MTI", typical working activities in production and logistics are exemplarily considered. Based on an anonymo...

Workers in various context are exposed to physical stress during repetitive movements carrying heavy loads, resulting in musculoskeletal disorders like low back pain and lumbar disc herniation. Furthermore, consequences are direct and indirect costs due to rehabilitation and a high amount of days of absent. To counteract the physical workload, supp...

Das primäre Ziel eines Exoskeletts ist die Körperregion-spezifische Reduktion von muskuloskelettalen Belastungen. Unter Berücksichtigung der aktuellen Literatur wird im folgenden Beitrag der derzeitige Wissensstand über das biomechanische Wirkprinzip von Exoskeletten und deren Potenzial zur Prävention von muskuloskelettalen Beschwerden diskutiert....

Repetitive overhead work with a heavy load increases the risk for work-related shoulder disorders. Occupational exoskeletons supporting arm elevation are potential solutions to reduce that risk by lowering the physical strains on the shoulder. Many studies have reported a reduction in shoulder stress in various overhead tasks by using such exoskele...

p>A concept of how load imposed by an exoskeleton on the upper arm affects shoulder torque is given using a mechanical mock-up of the shoulder-arm-system and a serial kinematic robot. System identification methods for linear surrogate models of the human shoulder-armsystem and their embeddings in control loops are introduced. Early measurements of...

p>A concept of how load imposed by an exoskeleton on the upper arm affects shoulder torque is given using a mechanical mock-up of the shoulder-arm-system and a serial kinematic robot. System identification methods for linear surrogate models of the human shoulder-armsystem and their embeddings in control loops are introduced. Early measurements of...

This study investigated the pressures occurring within the arm human-machine-interfaces (HMI) of four different exoskeletons that support static and dynamic work at or above head level, and the effects of the HMI on neurovascular supply of the upper extremity using an orthopedic provocation maneuver with raised arms with and without the exoskeleton...

This paper presents an approach for evaluating exoskeleton support concepts through biomechanical analyses on a musculoskeletal human model. By simplifying the support forces of an exoskeleton as external forces, different support concepts can be biomechanically evaluated for the respective use case without concrete design specifications of the exo...

In modern times, the collaboration between humans and machines increasingly rises, combining their respective benefits. The direct physical support causes interaction forces in human–machine interfaces, whereas their form determines both the effectiveness and comfort of the collaboration. However, their correct detection requires various sensor cha...

Using individual protective equipment (IPE) while handling unknown chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) dangers can lead to high physical stress on the user. The use of exoskeletons may be a good approach to help relieving the user and may increase the overall wear time of the IPE. Due to the unique environment and equipment, this...

Despite the advancing trends in automation, workers in industrial workplaces often face repetitive tasks with heavy workloads. Whenever methods or adaptions in both technology and organization are insufficient to improve working conditions, personal-related interventions as exoskeletons come into question. They may prove successful in alleviating m...

In industrial workplaces, strenuous, repetitive, and long-term tasks at head level or above as well as carrying heavy loads may lead to musculoskeletal disorders of different task dependent body parts. With an increasing trend towards wearable support systems, there is already a large quantity of exoskeletons that may support the user during moveme...

In recent years, the trend for implementing exoskeletons in industrial workplaces has significantly increased. A variety of systems have been developed to support different tasks, body parts, and movements. As no standardized procedure for evaluating industrial exoskeletons is currently available, conducted laboratory and field tests with different...

Unterstützungssysteme zeichnen sich durch eine erhöhte MenschMaschine-Interaktion aus. Diese Interaktion und ihre Auswirkungen haben große Bedeutung für die Entwicklung und Anwendung von Unterstützungssystemen und führen zu einer besonderen Herausforderung bei der Simulation entsprechender Systeme. Um diesen gerecht zu werden, wird ein Co-Simulatio...

Industrial exoskeletons are globally developed, explored, and increasingly implemented in industrial workplaces. Multiple technical, physical, and psychological aspects should be assessed prior to their daily application in various occupational environments. The methodology for evaluating these aspects is not standardized and differs in terms of fo...

Physische Unterstützungssysteme wie Exoskelette gewinnen zunehmend an Bedeutung für Industriearbeitsplätze. Dieser Beitrag stellt diesbezüglich eine Vorgehensweise für AnwenderInnen vor, der eine Verwendung von Leitmerkmalen für Unterstützungssituationen zur Ermittlung der Eignung von Exoskeletten nutzt. Beschrieben wird eine nutzerzentrierte Heran...

For patients suffering from drop foot due to weakness of ankle dorsiflexion muscles, an ankle foot orthosis provides increased foot clearance during the swing phase of gait, but often restricts other gait functions, such as plantarflexion. Due to steady progress in the development of lighter and smaller actuator technologies, active wearable device...

The use of exoskeletal systems has become an important approach to facilitate manual tasks e.g. in manufacturing industry. Depending on the addressed areas of application and activities, these systems can support or relieve different parts of the body. Due to overloading or incorrect posture, a high number of back disorders may occur. Exoskeletons...

Industrial workers still face work-related musculoskeletal disorders daily and therefore physical support systems like exoskeletons are being developed. Making these wearable robots adaptable to different tasks and users in terms of its support characteristics is expected to generate greater performance and broader acceptance. By analyzing relevant...

The applicability of exoskeletons in different daily and occupational settings is continually increasing. Due to varying tasks and user groups, the adaptability of exoskeletons is becoming more significant, with increasing demands for smarter devices. The implementation of force sensors in exoskeletal interfaces could be an approach for analyzing t...

Einleitung: Zur Behandlung eines durch neurologische Erkrankungen wie Multiple Sklerose be-einträchtigten Gangbildes existieren verschiedene rehabilitative Maßnahmen. Eine Methode zur Reduktion von Gangeinschränkungen, wie bspw. Fußheberschwächen, ist der Einsatz von Orthesen. Passive Orthesen sind zwar eine günstige und einfache Variante, besitzen...

Quantität und Qualität von Exoskeletten sind in den letzten Jahren kontinuierlich gestiegen. Entsprechende Systeme können verschiedene Anwendungen und Körperregionen unterstützen. Die verwendeten Grundtechnologien und die morphologische Struktur beeinflussen maßgeblich das exoskelettale Konzept. Dies hat wiederum einen großen Einfluss auf resultier...

Ein Einsatz von Exoskeletten in industriellen Kontexten gewinnt zunehmend an Interesse, wobei unterschiedliche Anwendungsszenarien und Erfahrungshintergründe mit Exoskeletten individuelle Erwartungshaltungen und Risikoeinschätzungen begründen können. Im Rahmen eines halbstandardisierten Interviews wurden deshalb verschiedene Interessensgruppen mit...

Mechanical stresses on the spine are a significant risk factor for low back pain, a highly prevalent health problem around the world. Certain occupational activities such as repetitive heavy lifting and static bending posture lead to high loads on the lower back. To address this problem, we are developing a soft power suit capable of reducing physi...

The shoulder is burdened in many industrial contexts and is particularly very susceptible to injuries, which often result in a lack of productivity, unemployability, an overall depression, or a general presentism of the workforce. The use of support systems can prevent such injuries in general. The benefit of especially soft systems is a high wear...

Die dritte transdisziplinäre Konferenz „Technische Unterstützungssysteme, die die Menschen wirklich wollen“ wurde von der durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderten Forschernachwuchsgruppe smartASSIST (Smart, AdjuStable, Soft and Intelligent Support Technologies), die durch das Laboratorium Fertigungstechnik (LaFT) der Helmut...

Method for construction and design of physical human-machine-interface for exoskeletons Based on their force transmitting function physical human-machine interfaces (MTS) are of particular importance for the effectiveness of exoskeletons. So far, MTS have mostly been realized as circular girding mechanisms and are often prone to graying and soft t...

The effects of load carriage on the body have been studied in upright positions such as standing and walking, but its impact in non-neutral positions remains unclear. This study assesses the effects of load height and trunk angle in static neutral and non-neutral body positions using electromyographic and posturographic measures. Both load position...

Management of the development process of exoskeletons with quality-based target costing Exoskeletons, such as the support system Lucy provide support to their users for several activities. Therefore, users are involved in the development process to design an exoskeleton that serves their needs. Data gathered from users about exoskeletons' quality c...

Autor note: Dieser Artikel basiert auf der Bachelorarbeit des Erstautors [Sch18]. Eine Erst-veröffentlichung der Daten erfolgte in wt Werkstattstechnik online Jahrgang 108 (2018) [Wei18]. Sie sind in zusammengefasster Form im Abstractband des 51. DGP's Kongresses 2018 erschienen. Kurzzusammenfassung Die experimentale Durchführung legte den Fokus au...

This book shows the advantages of using different perspectives and scientific backgrounds for developing support technologies that are integrated into daily life. It highlights the interaction between people and technology as a key factor for achieving this integration and discusses relevant methods, concepts, technologies, and applications suitabl...

This paper sketches the connection of digital transformation and support technologies. Describing and conceptualizing human-machine configurations as “support” is intimately linked to material digitization processes. It is argued that support relations have to be considered as sensor-actuator-networks that consist of both organic and designed compo...

There is a great variety of manual activities in work and everyday life. The number and forms of various support systems reflect this variety. A classification could provide a scheme to recognize, compare, and evaluate the heterogeneous problems, approaches, and technological solutions already existing in the field. Based on previous work on a theo...

Hrsg: Redlich, T.; Weidner, R.; Langenfeld, M. Cuvillier Verlag Göttingen 2018

Wearable robotic systems should be as lightweight as possible and interfere as little as possible with their user. At the same time, the components of such support system need to be provide sufficient stiffness and strength. In the current paper, these requirements are interpreted as a multi-objective design optimization problem, which is tackled u...

S12: Socio-technical systems in the digitized society Jacqueline LEMM, Alexander MERTENS, Nenja ZIESEN (RWTH Aachen University), Robert WEIDNER (Helmut Schmidt Universität Hamburg), Germany Socio-technical systems shape our society everyday. We serve vacuum cleaners, use navigation systems, older people operate the SOS button on their wrist when...

Appropriate assistive systems are used due to the demographic change, increased temporal and spatial interaction or integration of human and robots as well as necessary flexibility in respect to tasks and location. Especially safety and flexibility for effective human-robot-interaction and a broad spectrum of tasks are important. Existing technolog...

Tasks at or above head level have been known to cause discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders. This work presents a novel wearable active exoskeletal support system with a power tool based control interface to make overhead work more comfortable. Subjective task effort (Borg CR10), movement velocities and muscle activity (surface electromyography)...

Exoskeletal systems for the workplace are mostly designed to reduce strain and to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. In order to design these systems accordingly, biomechanical and physiological demands of the workplace and the individual’s response to these demands have to be known. Hence, biomechanical aspects during application of the exoskeleta...

In industrial production, the construction industry, and in daily life, manual activities will remain of central importance. The manifold environments and tasks require the development of different support systems. The choice of a system for a concrete application strongly depends on the context. In addition to (semi-) automated solutions, wearable...

Einen Ansatz zur Unterstützung manueller Tätigkeiten stellen Exoskelette dar. Durch den Einsatz dieser Systeme lassen sich verschiedene biomechanische sowie arbeitsphysiologische Effekte erzielen. Verschiedene Faktoren haben hierauf Einfluss. In Studien mit einem Unterstützungssystem „Lucy“ hat sich gezeigt, dass mit physischer Unterstützung eine s...

Wearable robotic hand devices can support people doing hand-intensive tasks by reducing the physical stress and strain on the human hand. For the safety and comfort of the user, such a device should be compatible and inconspicuous. Based on these two requirements, this paper presents a biomimetic design of a wearable robotic hand device called soft...

One of the greatest societal challenges right now can be seen in the design of the interaction between human and technology. Especially in recent years this has become more intense. In almost all life situations, we are already supported or assisted by technology. Such systems come in various forms and characteristics. This paper will report on an...

Introduction: The development of assistive devices to support the shoulder girdle, must be based upon knowledge of the underlying strength values (De Looze et al., 2016). However, most research on shoulder strength focuses primarily on the peak values of torque with only insufficient data on torque curve characteristics. Therefore, the goals of thi...

Research on technical support systems is lacking a common structure. Such a structure would allow for a better recognition and evaluation of the coherence and difference between heterogeneous problems, approaches, and technological solutions already existing in the field. A classification could provide requisite help, but it has to be theoretically...

Die zweite transdisziplinäre Konferenz „Technische Unterstützungssysteme, die die Menschen wirklich wollen“ wurde von der durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung geförderten Forschernachwuchsgruppe smartASSIST (Smart, AdjuStable, Soft and Intelligent Support Technologies), die durch das Laboratorium Fertigungstechnik (LaFT) der Helmut...

"Taxonomic criteria of technical support. Toward a periodic table". Research on technical support systems is lacking a common structure. Such a structure would allow for a better recognition and evaluation of the coherence and difference between heterogeneous problems, approaches, and technological solutions already existing in the field. A classif...

In this paper, based on the initial situation and the human information processing strategies for enhancement and levels of support are introduced. Opportunities for support including the perception, and potential risks are depending on the individual phases of human information processing, perception, cognition and motoric demonstrated and discuss...

Systematic development of units with power tools and wearable support systems " Even though their interaction is significant, wearable support systems as well as power tools are developed individually and independently from one another. Wearable support systems and power tools are currently combined by the user and are therefore not ideally suited...

“Analysis of the engineering chain with a view to developing wearable technical systems“ For the development of technical systems like tools, automated systems and automobiles, a wide range of methods are available. Depending on different applications, these methods are used in different phases of the development process. For the development of sys...

Freedom and self-determination are two aspects which elderly and handicapped people want. A common obstacle is a restricted mobility. To improve mobility, exoskeletons can be used. This paper presents an approach and a functional prototype of an exoskeleton with flexible joint for lower limbs. By using a flexible hinge, which allows translational a...

In the last decade, the market is overwhelmed with various exoskeletons for different applications in particular for the military and medicine sector, and recently also for the industry sector. The challenge is to select the most suitable exoskeleton from a large pool for performing dedicated tasks. In this paper, we present a procedure for a syste...

This paper presents an exoskeletal approach for realizing a wearable support system. It consists of a multi-unit exoskeletal spine to support the back of the user without limiting the range of motion. First of all the properties and the movement behavior of the spine are introduced and main design requirements of the corresponding system will be de...

Trotz der Bestrebung nach der Automatisierung von Produktionsprozessen in zahlreichen Bereichen werden manuelle Tätigkeiten auch in Zukunft einen bedeutenden Stellenwert der Wertschöpfung einnehmen. Ein Ansatz zur Lösung der damit verbundenen Herausforderungen sind Unterstützungssysteme nach dem Konzept des „Human Hybrid Robot – HHR“. Dieser Beitra...

This paper presents pricing innovations to German car insurance. The purpose is to provide an effective approach to adapting actuarial pricing decision to incorporate telematic data, which differs substantially from established tariff criteria in complexity and volume. A vehicle mobility model and a real-world sample of driving profiles form the in...

Introduction There is a broad agreement that e.g. in aircraft assembly overhead work with forceful movements is one risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) of the upper extremity (Rhode, 2015). At the HSU two wearable support devices were engineered specifically to support overhead work. The aim of this study is to assess the systems effect...

Despite the increasing degree of automation many tasks are still performed manually, especially in production of individualized, sensitive or quality critical products. These tasks, e.g. tasks in or above head level, are often non ergonomic. Thus musculoskeletal diseases can occur. This paper presents a novel concept for a modular and wearable tech...

Using modern telematics technologies for car insurance, it is no particular challenge to produce an intractably large amount of kinematic and contextual information about driving profiles of motor vehicles. In order to evaluate this data with respect to both efficient and effective use in scoring and subsequent actuarial pricing, we propose a scale...

Trotz der zunehmenden Automatisierung werden vor allem individuelle, sensible oder qualitätskritische Produkte nach wie vor manuell gefertigt und montiert. Diese Aufgaben, z.B. Tätigkeiten in und über Kopfhöhe sind häufig ergonomisch belastend und können längerfristig zu Erkrankungen des Bewegungsapparates führen. Dieser Beitrag stellt neuartige Ko...

Despite the increasing degree of automation many tasks are still performed manually, especially in production of individualized, sensitive or quality critical products. These tasks, e.g. tasks in or above head level, are often non ergonomic. Thus musculoskeletal diseases can occur. This paper presents a novel concept for a modular and wearable tech...

Many different production systems for supporting, assisting or helping people at work are already available and even more will be developed in future. Such systems come in various forms and characteristics. This paper will introduce some first steps toward a theory of support-systems. It will focus on individual forms of employee support. The theor...

This paper presents a novel concept for wearable support systems based on the approach of the Human Hybrid Robot (HHR), which can be adapted easily to the user and the activity. The concept focuses on modularity and makes intensive use of new manufacturing technologies like 3D-printing as well as flexible kinematics and textile components, in order...

14.0 Service Infrastrukturen Cyber-physische Systeme (CPS) besitzen hohe nicht-funktionale Anforderungen (NFA) in Bezug auf einen sicheren, fehlertoleranten, resilienten, effizienten, selbst-organisierenden und störungsfreien Betrieb. NFA sind daher notwendigerweise in der detaillierten Ausgestaltung und Spezifikation einer Service-Infrastruktur fü...

Trotz Streben nach dem Automatisieren von Produktionsprozessen in vielen Bereichen werden manuelle Tätigkeiten auch in Zukunft einen hohen Stellenwert bei der Wertschöpfung einnehmen. Ein Ansatz zur Lösung der damit verbundenen Herausforderungen sind Unterstützungssysteme nach dem Konzept des „Human Hybrid Robot – HHR“. Dieser Beitrag stellt konzep...