Standard Test Method for Measuring Exoskeleton Cognitive Fit, Perceived Safety, and Acceptance

Abstract

5.1 Exoskeletons are being used in the industrial/occupational sector to enhance the safety and effectiveness of the user to perform tasks as well as in the medical sector to provide rehabilitation or mobility, or both, to people. This test method is primarily intended for use in the occupational sector, but readers may find all or parts useful in other sectors, such as medical. 5.2 The test results of the CSA will indicate how well the exoskeleton is able to support the user within the specified types of environments, confinements, and terrains as well as if the exoskeleton is providing the user with a feeling of safety. Data provided by the CSA can inform the tester as to the applicability of the exoskeleton to a particular task and help lead potential purchasers to a decision whether the exoskeleton design is a suitable candidate for the worker. The CSA can also inform exoskeleton designers about a user’s perceptions of the exoskeleton’s acceptability, usefulness, and impact on safety when an exoskeleton is applied to execution of a series of tasks. 5.3 The CSA (see Fig. 1) consists of a Likert scale questionnaire consisting of two sub-models, the Exoskeleton Use Intent (EUI) and the Exoskeleton Cognitive Fit (Ref (3)), as well as a ranked choice questionnaire on the user’s perception of safety. This safety perception questionnaire has been adopted from the List of Physical Demands from Bureau of Labor Statistics.7 Details of the CSA are described in-depth in an accompanying, separate standard that is currently under production: Standard Guide for Measuring Exoskeleton Cognitive Fit, Perceived Safety, and Acceptance (CSA). 5.3.1 The CSA questionnaires bring together the user’s subjective perceptions of the safety and effectiveness provided by the exoskeleton instead of focusing on just objective productivity measures. In addition, by adding questions of user intent, CSA findings can point out effects of user safety and effectiveness perceptions on user intent to use an exoskeleton in the future for completion of the given tasks. 5.3.2 This test method was designed so that it may be given simultaneously with any number of ASTM exoskeleton physiological/ergonomic, safety, or performance test methods, either in a testing laboratory or in the field.