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Understanding Socio-Technical Challenges and Underlying Physiological and Psychological Risks of Powered Exoskeleton in the Construction Industry
Advisor: Assistant Professor Houtan Jebelli
Abstract
Construction work is often inherently complex, involving physically intensive and repetitive tasks performed in awkward postures within dynamic and hazardous environments. These conditions expose workers to a high risk of work-related musculoskeletal injuries. Exoskeletons are emerging as promising ergonomic solutions in the construction industry by providing lift support, weight dispersion, and posture correction. Although exoskeletons demonstrate strong potential to reduce muscular demands on workers, limited knowledge exists regarding their physiological, psychological, and socio technical implications under real working conditions.
This dissertation integrated immersive technologies, wearable physiological sensing, and organizational psychology to investigate the physical, psychological, and socio technical risks associated with powered exoskeletons in construction. The dissertation was conducted in three major phases. First, the dissertation explored the critical barriers influencing the adoption of powered exoskeletons within the U.S. construction industry. Through an integrative mixed-method approach; including a systematic literature review, Delphi expert consensus, a nationwide survey, and detailed semi-structured interviews, this research identified, validated, and prioritized key adoption barriers. Second, this dissertation developed an innovative worker-centered risk assessment framework for evaluating physical risks associated with the use of exoskeletons during construction tasks. A user-centered experiment assessed the impact of active exoskeletons on muscle fatigue, metabolic cost, ergonomic posture, and stability during common construction activities. Third, this research developed worker-centered risk assessment framework to empirically assess the psychophysiological risks associated with using powered exoskeletons during construction tasks. An immersive virtual reality environment was created to simulate typical construction activities, aiming to gather large amounts of high-quality physiological data. Subsequently, psychological sensing frameworks were developed to quantify workers' cognitive load, trust, and vigilance.
The findings revealed that operational reliability, usability, psychological resistance, safety concerns, and financial considerations represent major barriers to widespread exoskeleton adoption. Experimental results further demonstrated that active exoskeletons reduced back and abdominal muscle activity, decreased metabolic costs, and lowered ergonomic risks without adversely affecting worker stability. Additionally, the psychophysiological assessment indicated that powered exoskeletons increased workers’ cognitive burden and reduced trust levels, while vigilance remained largely unaffected. This dissertation advances the understanding of the physiological, psychological, and socio technical implications of powered exoskeletons and contributes toward supporting their safe and scalable adoption in the construction industry.