Integrating Automatic Force Assistance Configuration with Mixed Reality for Active Exoskeletons

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are highly prevalent in physically demanding industries due to manual material handling tasks such as lifting, hauling, and carrying heavy loads. Occupational exoskeleton technology has emerged to help mitigate these injuries. Exoskeletons are wearable devices that replicate the structure of the human body to enable mechanical interaction between the user and the system. Active exoskeletons use powered actuators and sensors to provide versatile and adaptive assistance for demanding tasks. However, a gap remains in user interaction and intuitive control for these systems. Human-computer interaction technologies, including mixed, virtual and augmented reality, offer novel solutions to enhance user interaction and enable intuitive, customisable control strategies for active exoskeletons. This study integrates mixed-reality technologies with the XoTrunk active occupational exoskeleton to enable parameter tuning and system calibration through immersive interfaces. Two alternative mixed-reality interfaces were developed for this purpose: one that relies on manual user input and the other that incorporates computer vision for automatic adjustment. Exper- iments involving 15 participants were conducted to evaluate interfaces by performing setup and operational activities while wearing the XoTrunk exoskeleton. The results showed that the automatic interface achieved a higher System Usability Scale score (84.83/100) compared to the manual interface (78.5/100), indicating improved user acceptance and intuitiveness.