Work performance in industry: The impact of mental fatigue and a passive back exoskeleton on work efficiency

Renée Govaerts, Sander De Bock, Lara Stas, Ilias El Makrini, Jelle Habay, Jeroen Van Cutsem, Bart Roelands, Bram Vanderborght, Romain Meeusen, Kevin De Pauw

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Mental fatigue (MF) is likely to occur in the industrial working population. However, the link between MF and industrial work performance has not been investigated, nor how this interacts with a passive lower back exoskeleton used during industrial work. Therefore, to elucidate its potential effect(s), this study investigated the accuracy of work performance and movement duration through a dual task paradigm and compared results between mentally fatigued volunteers and controls, with and without the exoskeleton. No main effects of MF and the exoskeleton were found. However, when mentally fatigued and wearing the exoskeleton, movement duration significantly increased compared to the baseline condition (βMF:Exo = 0.17, p = .02, ω2 = .03), suggesting an important interaction between the exoskeleton and one's psychobiological state. Importantly, presented data indicate a negative effect on production efficiency through increased performance time. Further research into the cognitive aspects of industrial work performance and human-exoskeleton interaction is therefore warranted.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104026
JournalApplied Ergonomics
Volume110
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Keywords

  • Manufacturing
  • Mental fatigue
  • Robotics

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