Oliver Korn

Comparing projected in-situ feedback at the manual assembly workplace with impaired workers

With projectors and depth cameras getting cheaper, assistive systems in industrial manufacturing are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. As these systems are able to continuously provide feedback using in-situ projection, they are perfectly suited for supporting impaired workers in assembling products. However, so far little research has been conducted to understand the effects of projected instructions on impaired workers. In this paper, we identify common visualizations used by assistive systems for impaired workers and introduce a simple contour visualization. Through a user study with 64 impaired participants we compare the different visualizations to a control group using no visual feedback in a real world assembly scenario, i.e. assembling a clamp. Furthermore, we introduce a simplified version of the NASA-TLX questionnaire designed for impaired participants. The results reveal that the contour visualization is significantly better in perceived mental load and perceived performance of the participants. Further, participants made fewer errors and were able to assemble the clamp faster using the contour visualization compared to a video visualization, a pictorial visualization and a control group using no visual feedback.

Design approaches for the gamification of production environments: a study focusing on acceptance

Gamification is an ever more popular method to increase motivation and user experience in real-world settings. It is widely used in the areas of marketing, health and education. However, in production environments, it is a new concept. To be accepted in the industrial domain, it has to be seamlessly integrated in the regular work processes. In this work we make the following contributions to the field of gamification in production: (1) we analyze the state of the art and introduce domain-specific requirements; (2) we present two implementations gamifying production based on alternative design approaches; (3) these are evaluated in a sheltered work organization. The comparative study focuses acceptance, motivation and perceived happiness. The results reveal that a pyramid design showing each work process as a step on the way towards a cup at the top is strongly preferred to a more abstract approach where the processes are represented by a single circle and two bars.

Context-aware assistive systems at the workplace: analyzing the effects of projection and gamification

Context-aware assistive systems (CAAS) have become ubiquitous in cars or smartphones but not in industrial work contexts: while there are systems controlling work results, context-specific assistance during the processes is hardly offered. As a result production workers still have to rely on their skills and expertise. While un-impaired workers may cope well with this situation, elderly or impaired persons in production environments need context-sensitive assistance. The contribution of the research presented here is three-fold: (1) We provide a framework for context-aware assistive systems in production environments. These systems are based on motion recognition and use projection and elements from game design (gamification) to augment work. (2) Based on this framework we describe a prototype with respect to both the physical and the software implementation. (3) We present the results of a study with impaired workers and quantifying the effects of the augmentations on work speed and quality.

Assistive technologies at home and in the workplace—a field of research for exercise science and human movement science

Since its existence, the European Review of Aging and Physical Activity (EURAPA) used different forms and contents of editorial articles. Beside referencing and summarizing the current issue, introductory overviews on research subjects are presented, thus drawing attention to fields considered in EURAPA, to stimulate potential research and submission of manuscripts to the journal. Such topics were, e.g. peak exercise [16], socioeconomic perspectives [14], or theory-driven evaluation [4]. The present editorial addresses technical assistance for elderly persons. During the last years, the term “ambient assisted living” (AAL) has been established for this field of research, mostly by national and European Union (EU) funding agencies, including science and technology [1, 19]. This field is of a highly interdisciplinary nature, oriented towards practical solutions, and it includes behavioural and technical aspects. This corresponds to the nature of exercise science and human movement science, which has been described to be “technological” from a theory of science view [3]. In addition, physical activity is an integral part of daily living. Therefore, AAL seems to be an interesting and stimulating field. In the following sections, firstly, the AAL concept is introduced. Secondly, a sketch on concepts to improve and prolong working life is presented, including examples for research questions from a sport and exercise science point of view. Some concluding remarks contain practical information on calls and research frameworks.

Determining the Characteristics of Preferred Virtual Faces Using an Avatar Generator

Video game developers continuously increase the degree of details and realism in games to create more human-like characters. But increasing the human-likeness becomes a problem in regard to the Uncanny Valley phenomenon that predicts negative feelings of people towards artificial entities. We developed an avatar creation system to examine preferences towards parametrized faces and explore in regard to the Uncanny Valley phenomenon how people design faces that they like or reject. Based on the 3D model of the Caucasian average face, 420 participants generate 1341 faces of positively and negatively associated concepts of both gender. The results show that some characteristics associated with the Uncanny Valley are used to create villains or repulsive faces. Heroic faces get attractive features but are rarely and little stylized. A voluntarily designed face is very similar to the heroine. This indicates that there is a tendency of users to design feminine and attractive but still credible faces.

Assistive system experiment designer ASED: a toolkit for the quantitative evaluation of enhanced assistive systems for impaired persons in production

This paper introduces the toolkit ASED: Assistive System Experiment Designer. Combining a specially constructed assembly table and new software it allows measuring the performance of impaired persons when using assistive systems for production environments (ASiPE). The ASiPE design tested using ASED transgresses the state of the art by three enhancements. With the help of ASED we are able to quantify and rank their effects on work quality and performance. The ASED toolkit, however, is not confined to the design tested but can be used for the experimental analysis of every kind of manual process.

Gamification of Production? A Study on the Acceptance of Gamified Work Processes in the Automotive Industry

In this work, we investigate how gamification can be integrated into work processes in the automotive industry. The contribution contains five parts: (1) An introduction showing how gamification has become increasingly common, especially in education, health and the service industry. (2) An analysis on the state of the art of gamified applications, discussing several best practices. (3) An analysis of the special requirements for gamification in production, regarding both external norms and the mindset of workers in this domain. (4) An overview of first approaches towards a gamification of production, focusing on solutions for impaired workers in sheltered work organizations. (5) A study with a focus group of instructors at two large car manufacturers. Based on the presentation of three potential designs for the gamification of production, the study investigates the general acceptance of gamification in modern production and determines which design is best suited for future implementations.

The Effect of Gamification on Emotions - The Potential of Facial Recognition in Work Environments

Gamification means using video game elements to improve user experience and user engagement in non-game services and applications. This article describes the effects when gamification is used in work contexts. Here we focus on industrial production. We describe how facial recognition can be employed to measure and quantify the effect of gamification on the users’ emotions.

Strategies for Playful Design when Gamifying Rehabilitation: A Study on User Experience

Gamifying rehabilitation is an efficient way to improve motivation and exercise frequency. However, between flow theory, self-determination theory or Bartles player types there is much room for speculation regarding the mechanics required for successful gamification, which in turn leads to increased motivation. For our study, we selected a gamified solution for motion training (an exergame) where the playful design elements are extremely simple. The contribution is three-fold: we show best practices from the state of the art, present a study analyzing the effects of simple gamification mechanics on a quantitative and on a qualitative level and discuss strategies for playful design in therapeutic movement games.

Small-Scale Cross Media Productions: A Case Study of a Documentary Game

With major intellectual properties there is a long tradition of cross-media value chains -- usually starting with books and comics, then transgressing to film and TV and finally reaching interactive media like video games. In recent years the situation has changed: (1) smaller productions start to establish cross media value chains; (2) there is a trend from sequential towards parallel content production. In this work we describe how the production of a historic documentary takes a cross media approach right from the start. We analyze how this impacts the content creation pipelines with respect to story, audience and realization. The focus of the case study is the impact on the production of a documentary game. In a second step we reflect on the experiences gained so far and derive recommendations for future small-scale cross media productions.