Susanna Aromaa

Suitability of virtual prototypes to support human factors/ergonomics evaluation during the design.

In recent years, the use of virtual prototyping has increased in product development processes, especially in the assessment of complex systems targeted at end-users. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the suitability of virtual prototyping to support human factors/ergonomics evaluation (HFE) during the design phase. Two different virtual prototypes were used: augmented reality (AR) and virtual environment (VE) prototypes of a maintenance platform of a rock crushing machine. Nineteen designers and other stakeholders were asked to assess the suitability of the prototype for HFE evaluation. Results indicate that the system model characteristics and user interface affect the experienced suitability. The VE system was valued as being more suitable to support the assessment of visibility, reach, and the use of tools than the AR system. The findings of this study can be used as a guidance for the implementing virtual prototypes in the product development process.

Use of wearable and augmented reality technologies in industrial maintenance work

Industrial maintenance is an increasingly complex and knowledge intensive field. Although new technologies in maintenance have been studied extensively, their usage is still lacking in the industry. We have studied knowledge-sharing solutions using augmented reality (AR) and wearable technologies in actual industry cases to find out if maintenance technicians find them useful and usable in their everyday work. Two test cases were included: the use of a wearable system consisting of three devices in the crane industry, and the use of AR guidance in the marine industry. In both cases two maintenance technicians tested the technologies and data were collected using questionnaires, interviews and observation. The maintenance technicians were positive towards the use of these technologies in their work. However, some practical issues were raised concerning the simultaneous use of multiple devices and the placement of the devices. A more system-level approach to designing wearable and AR technologies could be applied to ensure their utility in the field. Findings from this study can be used when designing and implementing wearable and AR technologies in maintenance, but also in other industry domains like the manufacturing industry.

Digital human model based participatory design method to improve work tasks and workplaces

The objective of this research project was to improve manual work tasks and workplace design with a new digital human model based design method. The idea of the method was to make the design and analyze of work and workplaces easy for floor level development case. It also should to be exploitable in the context of participatory design approach. The developed method was implemented on a production design simulation platform. It was designed to be used in design of human factors, performance and functionality of a production concurrently. The implemented tool includes basic human motions which exploit real human motion data, effective work design features to easily generate variational solutions, embedded ergonomic analyses and checklists to help analyzing different work environment solutions, and to document the design outcome. Four industrial case studies were completed with the tool. The results show that the tool is feasible for individual and group design work, and has positive impacts on the design process and on the way how individuals can influence on her or his future work in production system.

Demonstration: VR-HYPERSPACE — The innovative use of virtual reality to increase comfort by changing the perception of self and space

Our vision is that regardless of future variations in the interior of airplane cabins, we can utilize ever-advancing state-of-the-art virtual and mixed reality technologies with the latest research in neuroscience and psychology to achieve high levels of comfort for passengers. Current surveys on passengers experience during air travel reveal that they are least satisfied with the amount and effectiveness of their personal space, and their ability to work, sleep or rest. Moreover, considering current trends it is likely that the amount of available space is likely to decrease and therefore the passengers physical comfort during a flight is likely to worsen significantly. Therefore, the main challenge is to enable the passengers to maintain a high level of comfort and satisfaction while being placed in a restricted physical space.

Rock Crusher Upgrade Business from a PLM Perspective

Global trends of ecology and sustainable development, safety awareness, changing legislation, and urbanization, together with the economic situation, force industry to find solutions for extending product lifecycles, while maintaining and improving machine system performance and other properties during the lifecycles. Together with these societal issues, firms are struggling with competitiveness. This chapter introduces the new Use-it-Wisely (UIW) approach to upgrading rock crushers at customer sites. The higher level problem needing to be solved concerned making upgrade delivery projects profitable and more desirable for customers, manufacturing OEMs and suppliers. The main recognized and treated bottlenecks were related to knowing the actual status of the upgrade target, communication and collaboration with stakeholders, verification and validation of upgrade specifications and an efficient information flow between the stakeholders. Augmented reality (AR), Virtual environments (VE), camera based 3D scanning, and cloud based solutions are the selected pieces of technology for solving the bottlenecks. They enable better communication, collaboration and involvement of all stakeholders, including customers, internal stakeholders, suppliers and partners. They also better enable the planning and discussing of service quality activities. Product life-cycle management (PLM) is the framework for developing and managing product related information, processes and collaboration expanding towards product middle-of-life, end-of-life, and service lifecycle management. This study is a proof-of-concept that demonstrates the potential of contributions to business model innovations and game changes for upgrading business.

Multimodality Evaluation Metrics for Human-Robot Interaction Needed: A Case Study in Immersive Telerobotics

Multimodal, wearable technologies have the potential to enable a completely immersive teleoperation experience, which can be beneficial for a number of teleoperated robotic applications. To gain the full benefit of these technologies, understanding the user perspective of human-robot interaction (HRI) is of special relevance for highly advanced telerobotic systems in the future. In telerobotics research, however, the complex nature of multimodal interaction has not attracted much attention. We studied HRI with a wearable multimodal control system used for teleoperating a mobile robot, and recognized a need for evaluation metrics for multimodality. In the case study, questionnaires, interviews, observations and video analysis were used to evaluate usability, ergonomics, immersion, and the nature of multimodal interaction. Although the technical setup was challenging, our findings provide insights to the design and evaluation of user interaction of future immersive teleoperation systems. We propose new HRI evaluation metrics: Type of multimodal interaction and Wearability.

User Experience and User Acceptance of an Augmented Reality Based Knowledge-Sharing Solution in Industrial Maintenance Work

In industrial service business, maintenance processes can be challenging due to their complexity and knowledge intensiveness. The goal of this study was to evaluate the user experience and user acceptance of an augmented reality (AR) based, knowledge-sharing system, in industrial maintenance. An augmented reality system was evaluated in a focus group and a field study. The results indicate that the user experience was positive and the AR system was well accepted. The participants felt that the AR system was useful for their work and it supported information and knowledge sharing. The social media features for adding and sharing one’s own comments, notes and pictures were seen as very useful. However, some concerns regarding the quality and accuracy of the information content were raised. This study provides insights into AR-based knowledge sharing in industrial maintenance; however, the results can also be utilized in other areas, such as manufacturing.

User Evaluation of Industry 4.0 Concepts for Worker Engagement

Industry is undergoing a digital transition that will change the design and setup of human-machine systems. One part of this change is increasing possibilities of workers to influence their work. In this paper, we present four components of the Factory2Fit project that contribute to this change by engaging workers: (1) knowledge sharing and collaboration via a discussion platform; (2) visualisation of information via augmented reality (AR) glasses; (3) participatory design of workplaces and tasks by means of a 3D simulation software programme, and (4) an on-site training tool utilising a training platform. The demonstrators were evaluated with workers to identify foreseen benefits, challenges and impact on their work. Most of the concepts seem to be well accepted and they have high potential to improve work well-being and work performance. The results of this study are encouraging, but long-term field studies with actual prototypes will be needed to evolve the concepts.

Digital Human Models in Human Factors and Ergonomics Evaluation of Gesture Interfaces

Gesture-based interfaces are becoming a widely used interaction modality in many industrial applications. Therefore, it is important to guarantee usable and ergonomic interfaces for workers. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the use of digital human models (DHMs) by human factors/ergonomics (HFE) experts can complement the user evaluation of gesture interface prototypes. Two case studies were conducted, in which gesture-based systems for remote robot control were evaluated. The results indicate that the use of DHMs supports the findings from self-reported HFE evaluations. However, digital human modeling still has some limitations. For example, in this study, it was not possible to evaluate small muscle groups (e.g. fingers). We argue that adaptation of the DHMs could be a rapid and simple alternative for supporting the HFE design of gestures.

Human Factors and Ergonomics Evaluation of a Tablet Based Augmented Reality System in Maintenance Work

Augmented reality (AR) technologies start to be mature enough to be used in industrial work settings. However, human factors and ergonomics (HFE) and safety issues have not been considered thoroughly yet. The purpose of this study was to identify what kind of postures users adopt when using a tablet based AR system during a maintenance task. In addition, safety, user experience and user acceptance were studied. Results indicate that the participants adopted varying kind of working postures with the AR system, but none of the postures were severe for the well-being. User experience was positive and user acceptance on a good level. The participants saw some safety concerns related to using the AR system but were mainly concerned if the tablet could be used in the harsh maintenance environments. The findings of this study can be used to improve HFE and safety of AR systems in industrial settings.