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. 2023 Jan;66(1):61-87.
doi: 10.1080/00140139.2022.2059106. Epub 2022 May 10.

A systematic literature review of evidence for the use of assistive exoskeletons in defence and security use cases

Dominic J Farris  1 , David J Harris  1 , Hannah M Rice  1 , James Campbell  2 , Alistair Weare  2 , Debbie Risius  3 , Nicola Armstrong  3   4 , Mark P Rayson  5
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Free article

A systematic literature review of evidence for the use of assistive exoskeletons in defence and security use cases

Dominic J Farris et al. Ergonomics. 2023 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

Advances in assistive exoskeleton technology, and a boom in related scientific literature, prompted a need to review the potential use of exoskeletons in defence and security. A systematic review examined the evidence for successful augmentation of human performance in activities deemed most relevant to military tasks. Categories of activities were determined a priori through literature scoping and Human Factors workshops with military stakeholders. Workshops identified promising opportunities and risks for integration of exoskeletons into military use cases. The review revealed promising evidence for exoskeletons' capacity to assist with load carriage, manual lifting, and working with tools. However, the review also revealed significant gaps in exoskeleton capabilities and likely performance levels required in the use case scenarios. Consequently, it was recommended that a future roadmap for introducing exoskeletons to military environments requires development of performance criteria for exoskeletons that can be used to implement a human-centred approach to research and development.

Keywords: Exoskeletons; human factors; load carriage; manual handling; military; use case.

Plain language summary

We assessed the state-of-the-art for the use of wearable assistive exoskeletons in UK defence and security use cases. A full systematic review of the literature was undertaken, informed by use cases developed in military stakeholder workshops. Clear gaps in exoskeleton capability and use case requirements were identified, leading to recommendations for future work.

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