Exoskeletons in Healthcare: Stronger Workers or Closer Control?

A research project examined workplace exoskeletons through 23 semi-structured interviews. Sessions took place in person and online across the United Kingdom and Canada between 2021 and 2026. Participants included 13 exoskeleton companies and industry experts from eight countries. The team also attended three trade exhibitions. There, they observed products and spoke with industry participants in person.

At the center of the project are wearable robotic suits. These devices can increase a user's strength and stamina. They may also protect care workers from injuries. The technology is often discussed as a possible response to current and future labor shortages in health care. It could automate parts of the work or give human workers extra physical support. The project also examines what this shift means for people, workplaces, and the use of technology in care.

Designers described the suits in three hopeful ways. First, they can be seen as a form of care for workers' bodies. Second, they may help improve race and gender equity in the workplace. Third, they could lead society to place greater value on care work. The research places these claims within feminist science studies. One idea in this field is that care work should reshape how technology is studied and judged. Another is that researchers must closely examine the links between technology, gendered and racialized labor, and militarization.

Other readings of the technology are more worrying. Wearable systems could monitor workers' bodies to increase productivity. They might also speed the creation of humanoid robots that replace care staff. Such devices could extend working lives. At a wider political level, they might support harder national borders against immigrant care workers. These ideas are presented as possibilities that need evidence, not settled outcomes. The project urges more grounded, place-specific research into how new care technologies affect real communities. Future studies should also track how these quietly expanding tools change the relationship between care and technology.