Exoskeletons in the Workplace: Promise, Pitfalls, and Practical Considerations

Exoskeletons are emerging as a powerful ergonomics tool, but questions remain about fit, task matching, worker acceptance, and long-term impact. Here’s what safety leaders should weigh before adopting them.

• By Carrie Taylor
• Sep 04, 2025

Some really promising research has been published lately in support of the new exoskeletons, and, I admit, I’m intrigued by these devices. Who wouldn’t want to be made a bit stronger? (Ok, so technically they don’t make your body stronger, they just take some of the load…po-ta-toes po-taw-toes…at the end of the day, if I can lift more safely, I feel stronger.)

Before you jump on the exoskeleton bandwagon, here are a few things to think about.

Have you chosen the best one for the task?

Some are designed to offload the back muscles during prolonged bending, but they don’t help at all for overhead work. Some hold the arms and handheld tools overhead but make it more difficult to bring the arms down. Some are powered, which means they have batteries to maintain, and extra weight, and bulk that doesn’t jive with congested work environments or driving. Get some help to choose the best device for the task. Exciting new features are being introduced all the time.

Are you sure that they fit everyone?

Anyone who has experience with exoskeletons will tell you that fit is EVERYTHING! If the device doesn’t fit, it WILL be uncomfortable at best, and harmful at worst. Most have adjustable straps, and some might claim that these straps allow one size to fit everyone. Honestly, it’s probably impossible to design anything that will truly adjust to fit everyone out there – consider the difference between a large person and a really small person. A strap that goes around the large person might wrap three or more times around the small person.

Don’t expect one size to fit everyone. When you’re trialling products, make sure that you get the sizes you need to get honest feedback about fit and comfort from the smallest, tallest, and largest workers.

Do you plan to treat exoskeletons as PPE?

If so, everyone would be required to wear them. They shouldn’t any more optional than safety glasses. And if that’s the case, you’d better be sure that they fit everyone, that you always have them on-hand, and that you’ve got a mechanism in place for keeping them clean and available.

If not, then exoskeletons can be optional, and you can provide them for workers who want to use them. However, you can’t claim to have “solved the MSD problem” by providing a device if all the workers who are at risk are not consistently using the device.

How well do workers like them?

Before you commit to a big purchase, you’ll run a trial. Include your Health and Safety Committee in the process.

Get objective feedback from everyone. Have workers rate their pre- and post-shift comfort on a 10-point scale, starting a few days before the trial. Wouldn’t it be great to show that workers do develop discomfort over the shift now, but the exoskeleton allows them to work all day without additional discomfort? Gather ALL their comments and complaints about the devices, while it’s fresh in their minds. If you’re comparing various exoskeletons, ask for 10-point ratings for fit, comfort, ease of putting on and taking off, and how much the device helped.

For some workers, how the device “looks” matters. Patient care, for example, involves interacting with other humans who may have reservations about being handled by someone who looks a bit like a robot. (These are not necessarily well-founded concerns, of course, but they need to be addressed nonetheless.) Some exo-wearing workers will feel self-conscious, while others will be happy to adopt a “robo” look. Don’t limit your trial to only the willing volunteers – skeptics often give the best feedback and become the best ambassadors.

If you’re also exploring markerless motion capture – those apps that use a video to score MSD risk - you should know that they won’t do a great job of evaluating your exoskeletons. Motion capture tools rarely account for force biomechanically; exoskeletons don’t change posture or repetition, only load distribution. Workers still have to bend and reach, but the exo will take some of the load instead of the muscles. Researchers are trying to capture the biomechanical effect of exos in lab environments, but it’s pretty tricky to do with traditional ergonomics assessment tools.

What’s your long-term plan?

A long-term plan involves working through a lot of questions. Do you have in-house facilities for maintaining the equipment? How will exoskeletons be cleaned or repaired? Can they be passed from one worker to another? Where will you store them? If they have batteries, how will they be maintained? How often do exoskeletons need to be replaced? How will you fit new employees before they start the job? How will you equip stand-in workers, who cover for someone who is away for the day? If they break down, will employees still be expected to do the job? Will they be able to?

What is the long-term effect of exoskeletons?

Of course, we can’t answer that yet. Will workers’ muscles atrophy because they are not being used as much? (Probably not, but only time will tell.) Will workers start to lift or handle heavier weights because they think they have more strength? We simply don’t know.

When I read what I’ve written so far, it looks a bit bleak. However, I don’t think the outlook for exoskeletons is bleak at all – they are one of the most exciting recent advancements to come from ergonomics research. As an ergonomist, of course I’d prefer to fix the job, but I’ve also been around for long enough to know that, as long as humans are assembling and fixing cars, some of that work is going to be done overhead. And humans have a hard time with overhead work. Our bodies also don’t like to work in bent positions. Exoskeletons absolutely have a place in the ergonomics “toolbox”.

Exoskeletons aren’t a silver bullet, but with the right fit, task match, and long-term plan, they can be a valuable tool in the safety toolkit. And did I mention how important it is that they fit properly?

Further reading:

https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/exoskeletons.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169814124000052
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003687025001322
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12912-024-01821-3