My Body, My Exoskeleton: Co-Designing Intersectional Visions of Robotic Augmentations through Drawings

Abstract Robotic exoskeletons have the potential to improve people’s mobility and physical capabilities significantly. However, current design choices often overlook the diversity of users, leading to exclusionary and ill-fitting robotic systems that fail to address intersectional differences, such as age, health conditions, and gender. This introduces disparities in how user needs and their related safety concerns are met. At the same time, accessible methods that involve diverse end-users are understudied. To address these gaps, we explored an online drawing study methodology as an inclusive and fruitful co-design approach to exoskeleton design. We evaluated the feasibility of the methodology and the insights it yielded on the mental models participants from diverse backgrounds shared through their illustrations of robot embodiments. Methodologically, we discovered the merits and demerits of asynchronous drawing methodologies with naive participants. At the same time, the drawings, annotations, and interviews also allowed us to identify participant concerns—and a lack thereof—related to diverse body types and needs in the context of exoskeleton design. Our research contributes a novel, promising method for the inclusive design of exoskeletons and to broader discussions on diversity and inclusion in emerging technologies.