Visual Cues in Exergame-like Feedback for Fitting Passive Upper Limbs Exoskeleton: Systematic Review, Usability and Users’ Preferences

Abstract

A key problem in the adoption of exoskeletons in industry is that workers are incorrectly fitting the device, leading to discomfort and suboptimal functioning of the exoskeleton. Although biomechanical modeling and design optimization strategies have tried to resolve this issue, we propose a user-centric, real-time fitting aid to guide and control the correct fitting process, which has not been achieved in practice. Inspired by previous work that uses exergame-like feedback to instruct a user, we compared augmented reality (AR)-based visual cues to guide the accurate fitting of a passive upper limb exoskeleton. We selected visual cues through a systematic literature review and evaluated their efficacy and usability for different aspects of exoskeleton fitting in a study with sixteen participants. The study outcome suggests a statistically significant preference for a semi-transparent overlay instead of a more abstract arrow-based method. Moreover, the results indicate high usability and satisfaction with our approach, improved user acceptance, and potentially enhanced fitting accuracy. These findings advance understanding of the viability of exergame-like real-time guidance as a means to increase exoskeleton acceptance and adoption in industrial settings.

BibTeX

				
					@INPROCEEDINGS{11343382,
  author={Middendorf, Max and Saeedi-Givi, Christine and Daling, Lea and Abdelrazeq, Anas and Schmitt, Robert and Bohné, Thomas and Tadeja, Sławomir},
  booktitle={2025 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC)}, 
  title={Visual Cues in Exergame-like Feedback for Fitting Passive Upper Limbs Exoskeleton: Systematic Review, Usability and Users’ Preferences}, 
  year={2025},
  volume={},
  number={},
  pages={1020-1026},
  keywords={Industries;Visualization;Limbs;Accuracy;Fitting;Exoskeletons;Process control;Real-time systems;Usability;Systematic literature review},
  doi={10.1109/SMC58881.2025.11343382}}
				
			
APA Reference

M. Middendorf et al., “Visual Cues in Exergame-like Feedback for Fitting Passive Upper Limbs Exoskeleton: Systematic Review, Usability and Users’ Preferences,” 2025 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Vienna, Austria, 2025, pp. 1020-1026, doi: 10.1109/SMC58881.2025.11343382

 

Cyber-human Lab Contributors

Dr Sławomir Tadeja

Dr Slawomir K. Tadeja is a Postdoctoral Associate with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Here, he works...

Christine Saeedi-Givi

Christine Saeedi-Givi is pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Konstanz, Germany. She is interested in Human-Computer Interaction, cognitive psychology,...

Prof. Thomas Bohné

Thomas Bohné is the founder and head of the Cyber-Human Lab at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. He is also leading research...