Understanding Underlying Risks and Socio-technical Challenges of Human-Wearable Robot Interaction in the Construction Industry

The construction industry, one of the largest employers of labor in the United States, has long suffered from health and safety issues relating to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Back-related injuries are one of the most prevalent of all musculoskeletal disorders in the construction industry. Due to advancements in the field of wearable technologies, wearable robots such as passive back-support exoskeletons have emerged as a possible solution. Exoskeletons have the potential to augment human capacity, support non-neutral work positions, and reduce muscle fatigue and physical exertion. Current research efforts to evaluate the potential of exoskeletons in other industry sectors have been focused on outcome measures such as muscle activity, productivity, perceived discomfort and exertion, usability, and stakeholders' perspectives. However, there is scarce evidence regarding the efficacy of using exoskeletons for construction work. Furthermore, the risks and sociotechnical challenges of employing exoskeletons on construction sites are not well documented. Thus, through the lens of human-centric and socio-technical considerations, this study explores the prospects of adopting back-support exoskeletons in the construction industry. Firstly, a laboratory experiment was conducted to quantify the impact of using a passive exoskeleton for construction work in terms of muscle activity, perceived discomfort, and productivity. In order to investigate the acceptance of exoskeletons among construction workers and the challenges of adopting exoskeletons on construction sites, field explorations evaluating usability, perceived discomfort and exertion, social influence, and workers user perceptions were executed. Using sequential mixed methods approach, the stakeholders and factors (i.e., facilitators and barriers) critical for the adoption of exoskeletons on construction sites were investigated. Thereafter, by employing the factors and leveraging the constructs of the normalization process theory, an implementation plan to facilitate the adoption of passive exoskeletons was developed. The study contributes to the scarce body of knowledge regarding the extent to which exoskeletons can reduce ergonomic exposures associated with construction work. This study provides evidence of the perceptions of the contextual use of wearable robots, and workers' interaction with wearable robots on construction sites. The study contributes to the normalization process theory by showing its efficacy for the development and evaluation of implementation frameworks for construction industry. Furthermore, this study advances the socio-technical systems theory by incorporating all its subsystems (i.e., human, technology, organization and social) for investigating the potential of using a passive back support exoskeleton in the construction industry.