Citation

Caiazzo C, Savkovic M, Pusica M, Milojevic D, Leva MC, Djapan M. Machines (Basel) 2023; 11(11): e995.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/machines11110995

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The disruptive deployment of collaborative robots, named cobots, in Industry 5.0 has brought attention to the safety and ergonomic aspects of industrial human-robot interaction (HRI) tasks. In particular, the study of the operator's mental workload in HRI activities has been the research object of a new branch of ergonomics, called neuroergonomics, to improve the operator's wellbeing and the efficiency of the system. This study shows the development of a combinative assessment for the evaluation of mental workload in a comparative analysis of two assembly task scenarios, without and with robot interaction. The evaluation of mental workload is achieved through a combination of subjective (NASA TLX) and real-time objective measurements. This latter measurement is found using an innovative electroencephalogram (EEG) device and the characterization of the cognitive workload through the brainwave power ratio β/α, defined after the pre-processing phase of EEG data. Finally, observational analyses are considered regarding the task performance of the two scenarios. The statistical analyses show how significantly the mental workload diminution and a higher level of performance, as the number of components assembled correctly by the participants, are achieved in the scenario with the robot.

Language: en

Keywords

cobots; collaborative robotics; EEG; ergonomic assessment; experimental design; human–robot interaction; IR5.0; mental workload; neuroergonomics; performance