A Review of Research on Fit Design for Wearable Exoskeletons

YU Conggang; LI Dali; ZHANG Wenbin; ZHAO Wei; JU Man

doi:10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2026.14.008

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Packaging Engineering ›› 2026, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (14) : 83-99. DOI: 10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2026.14.008

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A Review of Research on Fit Design for Wearable Exoskeletons

YU Conggang, LI Dali^*, ZHANG Wenbin, ZHAO Wei, JU Man

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Abstract

The work aims to provide a narrative review of advances in fit design for wearable exoskeletons, delineate the conceptual boundaries and constituent dimensions of fit, and construct a theoretical framework for fit research to inform design innovation of wearable exoskeletons. Through retrieval, induction and theoretical analysis of relevant literature, and starting from the coupling relationship between the body and the device, the correlation and differences between fit and comfort, human-centeredness and adaptability were defined. From three dimensions, namely the physical fit of the shape structure, the interactive fit of the operation feedback, and the affective fit of the psychological expectation, the theoretical status and technical characteristics of exoskeleton fit design were summarized. The findings indicate that existing studies have predominantly examined exoskeleton-body compatibility from the perspective of technological implementation. However, the field continues to lack a coherent theoretical framework, a systematic evaluation framework, and adequate consideration of users' affective experiences. Fit should therefore be understood neither merely as an outcome of comfort nor solely as the adaptive capability of a device, but as the quality of the relationship established between an exoskeleton and the user's bodily structure, physiological load, motor behavior, and affective cognition under specific users, tasks, and contextual conditions. Future research should move beyond optimizing isolated device functions toward systematically constructing human-machine-context relationships. Physical fit design should evolve from static geometric matching toward multiscale dynamic adaptation across biological tissues, human-device interfaces, and device structures. Interactive fit design should progress from the control-parameter optimization toward bidirectional co-adaptation based on shared learning and joint decision-making between the user and the device. Affective fit design should advance beyond emotion recognition toward an affective closed-loop system that integrates state recognition, strategy adjustment, feedback delivery, and experience re-evaluation. Furthermore, a comprehensive fit design evaluation system encompassing specific user groups, real-world use scenarios, and long-term interaction should be established to support the theoretical development of fit design for exoskeletons, the optimization of product design, and the formulation of evaluation standards.

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exoskeleton / fit / design research / body structure / interactive behavior / emotional cognition

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YU Conggang, LI Dali, ZHANG Wenbin, ZHAO Wei, JU Man. A Review of Research on Fit Design for Wearable Exoskeletons[J]. Packaging Engineering. 2026, 47(14): 83-99 https://doi.org/10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2026.14.008

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