Foundations for economic evaluation of exoskeletons in manufacturing

In order to remain competitive, the manufacturing companies should improve continuously their processes as the core of their value-adding activities. Manual assembly workplaces in production, having workers as the most important resource for creating value-added are particularly affected by manipulation of heavy loads, vibrations and hazardous operations. These workplaces are coping with challenges as decreasing employment rate, high fluctuation, and increasing illness rate. The processes at manual assembly workplaces can be optimized by employing wearable robotics - Exoskeletons - in order to support the workers physically and cognitive. This paper presents a literature review of economic evaluation methods of technical support systems, as a base for the development of an innovative method to evaluate the economic impact of exoskeletons in manufacturing.