Verve Motion, a Harvard spinout company focused on industrial worker safety, today announced the results of an extensive, multi-year study of wearable robots in the workplace. The groundbreaking study quantifies key metrics related to back and hip injuries and demonstrates significant benefits for industrial workers using soft exosuit devices, including a significant reduction in workplace injuries and improved worker health.
The four-year study is the first to track ergonomic, safety and injury metrics for more than 65 million lifting tasks at more than 40 site locations across five industries: construction, food and beverage, logistics, manufacturing and retail. The findings provide unprecedented insight into the impact of soft exosuits on physically demanding jobs for workers performing tough, repetitive tasks such as case picking, manufacturing, order picking, shipping and receiving, and routinely lifting between 10,000 and 60,000 pounds per day.
Warehouse and fulfillment center workers are routinely challenged to lift up to 60,000 pounds each day; Verve Motion’s exosuits have enabled workers to lift over 500 million pounds while dramatically reducing back and hip injuries by 60-85 percent per location. By reducing the risk of overexertion, injury and fatigue, the exosuit not only improves worker safety, it also increases productivity and reduces turnover.
In selecting variables to capture in the safety study, Verve Motion modeled metrics based on the Marras et al. study, a landmark 1995 study on ergonomics and occupational health in which the research team analyzed over 400 industrial lifting tasks and identified several variables (such as lifting frequency, degree of forward bending and twisting speed) that correlate with risk of work-related low back injuries.
“To conduct this data analysis, Verve Motion worked with customers across a range of sectors to focus on the metrics that matter most to them, including injury reduction, increased productivity, employee happiness and retention,” said Ignacio Galiana, CEO and co-founder of Verve Motion. “We then analyzed how incorporating a soft exosuit would perform ergonomically in an environment that involves repetitive lifting, lowering and bending hundreds, even thousands, of times every day.”
Data analysis revealed key transformational insights into workplace safety and productivity:
High risk sectors and trends:
The study found that the food and beverage, logistics, and retail sectors had the toughest and least safe lifting tasks, with employees averaging approximately 200 lifts per hour. Case picking was the occupation with the highest lifting rate, averaging 196 lifts per hour, with some sites exceeding 300 lifts per hour. Over 50% of these lifts were deep lifts, requiring more than 40 degrees of trunk flexion, and the heaviest loads averaged over 30,000 pounds per day.
Risky movements that can lead to back and hip injuries were also highlighted. Waist bending accounts for 55-65% of all lifts, twisting for 20-25%, side bending for 10-12% and excessive forward leaning for 15-20% – all well-known risk factors for injury. Injury Reduction:
Use of the exosuits has dramatically reduced workplace injuries, dropping them by 60-85% per location. For example, one distribution center typically experienced one injury every 14,300 hours (1 in 7 full-time workers), but with sustained use of the exosuits, injuries dropped to 1 injury every 94,000 hours, a 5.5-fold improvement (1 in 47 full-time workers). Reduction in Unsafe Motions:
Not only do soft exosuits assist with lifting movements, they also make lifting safer. The study found a 36% reduction in unsafe lifting movements among employees who wore the suits for more than five months. Increased Productivity:
Continued use of the exosuits resulted in an average productivity increase of 4.7%, with improvements across the surveyed facilities ranging from 1.5% to 7.9%. Additionally, the distribution of worker productivity narrowed significantly, resulting in more consistent performance across workers. Positive impact on the workforce:
The majority of users (97%) reported that the exosuit helped them in their work, including very positive feedback (95%), reduced back muscle pain (87%), reduced fatigue (79%) and increased job satisfaction (95%). Companies also reported increased employee retention, highlighting the benefits of the exosuit device beyond physical safety.
Emphasis on safety culture
The study findings also highlighted the critical importance of a strong safety culture and active collaboration at deployment sites to the successful adoption of exosuits. The study revealed that without these foundational elements, even the most sophisticated technology will not achieve its full potential in enhancing workplace safety. The analysis highlighted the need to foster a safety-first environment to effectively drive technological advancements and change.
“Data from this multi-year study confirms that wearable robots can have a transformative impact on reducing workplace injuries in high-risk industries,” said Galiana. “This highlights the role of exosuits not just as personal protective equipment, but as a catalyst for change across industries, setting new standards in workplace safety and innovation.”
Tackling Workplace Safety’s Biggest Challenges with Wearable Robots
Back injuries are a major workplace safety concern, affecting millions of workers each year. Occupational back pain is the most commonly reported injury, affecting more than one million U.S. workers each year. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that costs associated with back injury claims, including medical expenses and lost wages, range from $40,000 to $80,000 per case.
The SafeLift™ exosuit used in the study, developed at Harvard University’s Biodesign Lab, is the world’s first soft exosuit designed for industrial use. Tailored to each worker and task, the exosuit provides adaptive assistance by combining real-time motion sensing with robotic support. It functions like a lightweight backpack, reducing back strain by approximately 40% during a typical workday. It also includes a cloud platform with sensors that detect risky movements and enhance injury prevention and workplace ergonomics through coaching. SafeLift’s inertial measurement unit identifies key movements associated with back injury risk, such as excessive trunk bending and twisting, and provides targeted support to reduce biological muscle load.
About Verve Motion
Verve Motion is a wearable robotics technology company committed to improving the lives of workers across industries. With a passion for innovation and a focus on ergonomics, safety and productivity, the company is developing cutting-edge soft exosuits that redefine how people work. Spinned out of the Harvard Biodesign Lab, part of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Verve Motion is based on a decade of research funded by DARPA, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Since its founding in 2020, Verve Motion has raised more than $40 million in funding from a diverse group of investors. For more information, please visit www.vervemotion.com.