Browsing by Author "Abele, Nils Darwin"

Dynamic markets and constantly changing work practices are causing an increased number of industrial set-up processes on production machines in the wake of a growing need for customized product requirements – especially in small and medium-sized companies due to mainly manual set-up processes. Resting on a comprehensive ethnographic study, a cyber-physical production system (CPPS) based on augmented reality (AR) was developed to support machine setters in the course of such complex and knowledge-intensive processes, taking into account interaction-ergonomic and compatibility-related standards. For a holistic, objective and subject-related occupational science analysis on the handling of AR-based CPPS in the context of set-up processes on forming and bending machines, ergonomic sub-studies were conducted in addition to a risk assessment of the work process for the comparative investigation of instruction-supported work execution using mixed reality smart glasses Microsoft® "HoloLens" and paper-based work instructions. The results show that muscular fatigue of the neck and shoulder area is possible when using the HoloLens for a longer period of time and with a high degree of repetition, but unlikely in relation to real-life context due to a low degree of strain. However, a significant temperature increase of approximately 1 °C at the glasses’ contact points represents a potential risk for the user's thermal well-being. While the subjective assessment of the test persons with regard to thermal stress corresponds to the objective measurement results, the muscle physiological strain is sporadically felt to be stronger than actually objectively or electromyographically proven. Sensory support and control of manual set-up processes paired with simple operability of the system favors added value in terms of process reliability, cognitive relief for machine setters and a learning effect both with regard to the respective work task and with regard to the data glasses’ as well as the application’s handling. Taking into account the constant technological and ergonomic further development as well as interaction and strain-related familiarization, the extent to which the use of such support systems will also have a strain-minimizing character in practice in the medium to long term is questionable.