The Effects of the Use of Exoskeletons for Manual Handling on Cognitive Abilities: A Mixed Reality Approach

Recently, the “Industry 5.0” paradigm has been proposed, thus underlining the need for a “human-centric” approach within the industries and a shift in focus from welfare to the wellbeing of the operator by exploiting enabling technologies, such as exoskeletons. However, the impact of these technologies on cognitive load and motor control – and their interaction - during the execution of working tasks, has not yet been thoroughly analyzed. The present study aims to develop and preliminarily present an integrated tool for the evaluation of the effects induced using exoskeletons on cognitive load. A single participant performed a free-hand cognitive task implemented in a mixed reality (MR) environment and under three different conditions: (1) static condition, (2) while performing a whole-body motor task (i.e., lifting), and (3) while performing the same motor task but with the assistance of a hybrid upper-body exoskeleton. Accuracy data and reaction times were collected for the cognitive task, while whole-body kinematics and kinetics were acquired to assess the motor performance by using wearable inertial measurement unit-based and surface EMG systems. The obtained results highlighted differences in cognitive effort for the realized motor task when performed with or without the exoskeleton; in fact, accuracy decreased and reaction times increased when performing the motor task while using the exoskeleton. This preliminary study resulted promising and allowed to obtain useful hints for gathering multifactorial, quantitative, and reliable information concerning the motor-cognitive interactions while using exoskeletons within specific working environments.