Physical support of soldiers during CBRN scenarios with exoskeletons

Schubert, Tim; Weidner, Robert

doi:10.3390/app151910763

Physical support of soldiers during CBRN scenarios with exoskeletons

Publication date

2025-10-06

Document type

Forschungsartikel

Author

Organisational unit

DOI

URI

https://openhsu.ub.hsu-hh.de/handle/10.24405/24007

Project

Intelligente Auslegung und Optimierung von KI basierten, physischen (Körper-) Unterstützungssystemen mit moderner Antriebstechnologie

Publisher

MDPI

Series or journal

Applied Sciences

ISSN

2076-3417

Periodical volume

15

Periodical issue

19

Article ID

10763

Peer-reviewed

✅

Part of the university bibliography

✅

Funding(s)

Publikationsfonds der HSU/UniBw H

Language

English

Keyword

Exoskeleton design

Biomechanical evaluation

CBRN scenarios

Wearable robotics

dtec.bw

Abstract

The physical demands of overhead tasks can lead to musculoskeletal strain, particularly in scenarios requiring prolonged arm elevation such as in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) operations. To address this, an active shoulder exoskeleton was developed that is compatible with CBRN protective gear. The aim of this laboratory study was to assess the biomechanical and physiological effects of the system during upper limb tasks representative of real-world applications, without the use of protective suits. Twenty-two male participants performed two tasks with and without the exoskeleton: (1) 5 kg lifting task and (2) repetitive spraying tasks with a spray lance. Muscle activity of the m. anterior deltoid was measured using surface electromyography, while energy expenditure was assessed via spiroergometry. The exoskeleton significantly reduced muscular demands in the anterior deltoid, with a decrease of up to 40% during the spraying task and 29% percent during lifting task. Additionally, oxygen consumption per kilogram of body mass decreased by 6.5 to 8.2% across tasks. Participants reported lower fatigue and greater task manageability when using the exoskeleton, particularly for sustained and semi-static overhead postures. The results demonstrate that the exoskeleton effectively reduces workload during upper limb tasks. These findings support its application not only for soldiers in contaminated environments but also in industrial settings involving overhead work. Future research will need to validate these effects under realistic CBRN conditions to confirm operational compatibility.

Description

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Published version

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