One Size does not Fit All - Challenges of Providing Interactive Worker Assistance in Industrial Settings

Abstract

Teaching new assembly instructions at manual assembly workplaces has evolved from human supervision to digitized automatic assistance. Assistive systems provide dynamic support, adapt to the user needs, and alleviate perceived workload from expert workers supporting freshman workers. New assembly instructions can be implemented at a fast pace. These assistive systems decrease the cognitive workload of workers as they need to memorize new assembly instructions with each change of product lines. However, the design of assistive systems for the industry is a challenging task. Once deployed, people have to work with such systems for full workdays. From experiences made during our past project motionEAP , we report on design challenges for interactive worker assistance at manual assembly workplaces as well as challenges encountered when deploying interactive assistive systems for diverse user populations.