Soft robotic suits have the potential to rehabilitate, assist, and augment the human body. The low weight, cost, and minimal form-factor of these devices make them ideal for daily use by both healthy and impaired individuals. However, challenges associated with data-driven, user-specific, and comfort-first design of human-robot interfaces using soft materials limit their widespread translation and adoption. In this work, we present the quantitative evaluation of ergonomics and comfort of the Elevate suit - a cable driven soft robotic suit that assists shoulder elevation. Using a motion-capture system and force sensors, we measured the suit's ergonomics during assisted shoulder elevation up to 70 degrees. Two 4-hour sessions were conducted with one subject, involving transmitting cable tensions of up to 200N with no discomfort reported. We estimated that the pressure applied to the shoulder during assisted movements was within the range seen in a human grasp (approximately 69.1-85.1kPa), and estimated volumetric compression of <3% and <8% across the torso and upper arm, respectively. These results provide early validation of Elevate's ergonomic design in preparation for future studies with patient groups.

翻译：软体机器人外骨骼在人体康复、辅助与增强方面具有潜力。这类设备重量轻、成本低、外形紧凑，非常适合健康人群和功能障碍者日常使用。然而，采用软材料的人机接口设计面临数据驱动、用户定制和舒适性优先等挑战，限制了其广泛转化与应用。本研究对Elevate外骨骼——一种辅助肩部抬升的线驱动软体机器人外骨骼——的人体工程学与舒适性进行了量化评估。通过运动捕捉系统和力传感器，我们测量了该外骨骼在辅助肩部抬升至70度过程中的人体工程学表现。对一名受试者进行了两次为期4小时的测试，期间传输的线缆张力最高达200N，受试者未报告不适感。我们估计辅助运动期间施加于肩部的压力处于人类抓握力范围（约69.1-85.1kPa）内，并估算出躯干和上臂的体积压缩率分别小于3%和8%。这些结果为Elevate外骨骼的人体工程学设计提供了初步验证，为未来患者群体研究奠定了基础。