Forestry Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Exoskeletons

Abstract

This study examined forestry professionals’ awareness and acceptance of exoskeletons and identify potential tasks that would benefit most from the exoskeleton implementation. An online survey was distributed to forestry professionals to evaluate musculoskeletal pain, awareness and acceptance of exoskeletons, important factors for exoskeleton adoption, and tasks that can benefit most from exoskeleton use. Twenty-two forestry professionals responded. The results showed that low back and shoulder pain were most prevalent, indicating that back- and shouldersupport exoskeletons may be good candidates for timber felling. Moreover, the study found forestry professionals' considerable interest and acceptance levels on exoskeletons. This study also identified several important factors of exoskeleton adoption including weight, comfort, simplicity/portability, practicality, and easy maintenance. Lastly, the results demonstrated that timber felling, cutting/sawing, and mechanic work may benefit most from the exoskeleton use. These findings provide important insights for future studies evaluating feasibility and effectiveness of exoskeletons in the forest industry.

Keywords

Wearables musculoskeleetal disorders manual timber felling

Manual timber felling tasks pose various physical risk factors including forceful exertions, awkward postures, repetitive and motions, which have long been associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Previous epidemiological studies have shown the high prevalence (over 70%) of MSDs among the forestry workers with low back and shoulder being most affected areas (Lynch et al., 2014).

Previous studies showed that exoskeletons may have potential to address such MSD risks. Some studies found that exoskeletons reduced biomechanical load in the shoulders and low back (Van Engelhoven et al., 2018). However, other studies showed that exoskeletons transferred load to other body parts and reduced postural balance (Weston et al., 2018). These limitations may pose important safety hazards especially in case of emergency (e.g., workers’ reduced mobility and delayed evacuation).

Because of the unique nature of the work (e.g., non-standardized work and physical environment (e.g., climate and terrain), these existing findings on the exoskeletons may not provide direct implications to manual timber felling. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the feasibility, potential benefits and risks of exoskeleton use in forestry settings. As a part of preliminary step, this study characterized biomechanical stress during timber felling (field study) and assessed forestry professionals’ awareness and acceptance of exoskeletons (survey study).

Participants were recruited as a convenience sample through the support from local forest partners. All the study protocols were approved by the University’s Institutional Review Board and all the participants provided signed consent prior to data collection.

Field study: A total of 10 professional timber fellers (9 males and 1 female) participated in the field study. Eligibility criteria included at least 21 years of age and currently professional timber fellers. Low back and shoulder postures were collected using wireless wearable sensors (Biostamp nPoint; MC10; Lexington, MA) during regular manual timer felling operations. The detailed information on the sensor placement, data collection and analysis is discussed in our previous study (Kim et al., 2022).

Survey participants: A questionnaire was administered to adult (over 21 years of age) professional forestry workers who were knowledgeable and experienced in manual timber felling. A total of 22 forest industry stakeholders responded. These questions were designed to collect professional background and musculoskeletal pain; assess their awareness and opinions about exoskeletons; and identify potential tasks for the exoskeleton use in forestry settings. Descriptive data analyses were used to summarize the demographics, musculoskeletal pain, and close-ended questions. The open-ended questions were analyzed by the content analysis (Forman & Damschroder, 2007).

The results showed that manual timber felling required significant torse flexion. The median (50^th percentile) and peak (95^th percentile) torso flexion were 23.3 and 45.4°, respectively. The torso flexion of 20° or greater can increase low back injury risk. In addition, the upper-arm elevation angle (i.e., combination of shoulder flexion and abduction) was up to 61.8°, which could increase risks for shoulder injuries. These postural data suggest that back-support and upper-limb exoskeletons can be good candidates to be evaluated for manual timber felling.

The survey results suggested that exoskeletons should be easy to use and maintain, simple, and affordable to facilitate their adoption in forest operation. The survey results also showed that exoskeletons will be most beneficial for cutting, sawing, timber felling, and mechanic work. Therefore, these tasks would be appropriate candidates for initial testing of exoskeletons’ efficacy in forest industry.

In conclusion, this study revealed high level of interest and acceptance on exoskeletons among forestry professionals. The study results also suggest that back-support and upper-limb exoskeletons would be appropriate types for initial evaluation of exoskeletons in the forestry industry.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

This publication was prepared by Oregon State University using Federal funds under award #07-79-07914 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. This study was also partially funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under Grant (NIOSH/CDC Cooperative Agreement #5 U54 OH007544).

ORCID iD

Jeong Ho Kim

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