Investigating the convenience of adopting passive exoskeletons in order picking

Among all warehouse tasks, order picking, the process of retrieving products from storage locations to satisfy customer orders, is the most time consuming, costly, and labour intensive. Furthermore, the repetitive nature of this task exposes workers to the risk of injury, musculoskeletal disorders, and mental and physical fatigue. To address these challenges, guided by the Industry 5.0 paradigm, researchers and practitioners have developed assistive devices and strategies to improve workers’ well-being and performance. Among all assistive devices, passive exoskeletons have gained ground in recent years. However, it remains unclear which order picking conditions and worker characteristics make these devices the most suitable. To bridge the gap, this paper introduces a decision support system that helps assess the practicality of passive back support exoskeletons. Specifically, the decision to adopt an exoskeleton is based on the metabolic cost of performing the task and the corresponding rest allowance, which represents the necessary recovery time to compensate for physical fatigue. This research also seeks to connect two scientific fields, physiology and operations management. Finally, an analysis of the factors that influence the decision to use back support exoskeletons reveals that pick frequency and pick height are the most significant variables that impact this choice.