Integration of the User Command Interface to the Industrial Exoskeleton XoTrunk

Back-support active exoskeletons have had greater impact in industrial applications such as manufacturing, automotive and transportation. The purpose is to reduce mus-culoskeletal disorders when workers perform manual material handling. These exoskeletons are task dependent, so the versatility of the work is related to the type of movement performing during the task. Since active exoskeletons generate modulated assistive forces, it is important to give the user access to some domains of the exoskeleton's system. This paper presents an evaluation of a human-machine interface (named User Command Interface) that has been integrated into XoTrunk industrial exoskeleton. Experiments for assistive force modulation and access control were performed by participants wearing XoTrunk. The current version of the interface provides signal visualization, gives access to parameter adjustments (torque limits and gains) and stores user data. Results presented in this paper show that the User Command Interface is an intuitive and highly consistent design control device.