ASTM F3582-22

SIGNIFICANCE AND USE 5.1 Exoskeletons are being used in the industrial/occupational, military, response, medical, and recreational sectors to enhance safety and effectiveness of the user to perform tasks. Traversing gaps is a component of many tasks that someone would do with an exoskeleton. For example, an exoskeleton may be used to help a worker in building construction where gaps in ground surfaces are prevalent. In the military, and other similar environments, soldiers using exoskeletons may traverse gaps along paths carrying loads. Fig. 1 shows examples of gaps typically found in various environments in which persons using exoskeletons may be required to step over gaps. The testing results of exoskeletons shall describe, in a statistically significant way, how reliably the exoskeleton is able to support tasks within the specified types of environments, confinements, and terrains, and thus provide sufficiently high levels of confidence to determine the applicability of the exoskeleton to a given task. 5.2 This test method addresses exoskeleton safety and performance requirements expressed by manufacturing, medical, emergency responders, military, or other organizations requesting this test. The safety and performance data captured within this test method are indicative of the test exoskeleton’s and the exoskeleton user’s capabilities. The safety and performance data from these tests are essential to guiding the procurement and deployment decisions of exoskeleton purchasers and users. 5.3 The standard test setup and apparatus (see Section 6) is specified to be easily fabricated. This facilitates evaluation and replication of gap tests by exoskeleton sectors. The standard test setup and apparatus can also be used to support training (see Practice F3444/F3444M) and to establish proficiency of exoskeleton users, as well as provide manufacturers with information about the usefulness of their exoskeleton(s) for tasks. 5.4 Although the test method was developed for the sectors lis... SCOPE 1.1 Purpose: 1.1.1 The purpose of this test method, as a part of a suite of exoskeleton use test methods, is to quantitatively evaluate an exoskeleton’s (see Terminology F3323) performance or safety, or both, of usage by the exoskeleton user (see 1.4) for gaps. 1.1.2 Exoskeletons shall possess a certain set of allowable exoskeleton user movement capabilities, including user-motion adaptability, to suit operations such as: industrial/occupational, military, response, medical, or recreational. Environments in these typical sectors often pose constraints to exoskeleton user movement to various degrees. Being able to step over gaps, as intended by the user or test requestor, while using an exoskeleton is essential for exoskeleton deployment for a variety of tasks. This test method specifies test setup, procedure, and recording to standardize this gaps task for testing exoskeleton user movement. 1.1.3 Exoskeletons need to function as intended, regardless of types of tasks and terrain complexities (for example, carpet, metal, masonry, rock, wood). Required movement capabilities may include, for example: walking, running, crawling, climbing; traversing gaps, stairs, slopes, various types of floor surfaces or terrains, or confined spaces, or combinations thereof. Standard test methods are required to evaluate whether or not exoskeletons meet these requirements. 1.1.4 ASTM Subcommittee F48.03 develops and maintains international standards for task performance and environmental considerations that include but are not limited to, standards for safety, quality, and efficiency. This subcommittee aims to develop standards for any exoskeleton application as exemplified as in 1.1.2. The F48.03 test suite consists of a set of test methods for evaluating exoskeleton capability requirements. This gaps test method is a part of the test suite. The setup, procedure, and apparatuses associated with the test methods challenge speci...