A human augmentation device design review: supernumerary robotic limbs

Purpose Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) are a new type of wearable robot, which improve the user’s operating and perceive the user’s environment by extra robotic limbs. There are some literature reviews about the SRLs’ key technology and development trend, but the design of SRLs has not been fully discussed and summarized. This paper aims to focus on the design of SRLs and provides a comprehensive review of the ontological structure design of SRLs. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the related literature of SRLs is summarized and analyzed by VOSviewer. The structural features of different types of SRLs are extracted, and then discuss the design approach and characteristics of SRLs which are different from typical wearable robots. Findings The design concept of SRLs is different from the conventional wearable robots. SRLs have various reconfiguration and installed positions, and it will influence the safety and cooperativeness performance of SRLs. Originality/value This paper focuses on discussing the structural design of SRLs by literature review, and this review will help researchers understand the structural features of SRLs and key points of the ontological design of SRLs, which can be used as a reference for designing SRLs.