Evaluation of human-robot collaborative works in terms of cognitive ergonomics with extended cognition approach


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Bursa Uludağ University, FEN BİLİMLERİ ENSTİTÜSÜ, Turkey

Approval Date: 2017

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: Zeynep Üstünel

Supervisor: TÜLİN GÜNDÜZ

Abstract:

Cognitive load that arises from the interactions of human with tools, devices, machines and workplaces; is important for product and service quality and also work safety. Since the 1980's cognitive load has been studied. However, the topic of extended/distributed cognition is a new approach, especially in industrial use. In this thesis, the cognitive load that occurs in human-robot collaborative assembly works was investigated. It was aimed to detect the effects of the workplaces designed with the approach of extended cognition on cognitive load, gender differences and velocity of robot arm in cognitive load. Two workplace designs were used. In both designs there was a sedentary workplace and same assembly work which requires human-robot collaboration. Differently, for the experimental group, the manual drawing was integrated to work table to detect the effect of extended cognition. For both groups task load is measured by using NASA-TLX (Task Load Index) and PASAT (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test) method. Experimental results showed that the design with the extended cognition concept helps to reduce mental task load for participants. Experimental results also showed that there are no significant differences in cognitive load between genders. In this thesis, human-robot cooperative works are examined according to gender difference with a point of extended cognition. The importance of the workplace design for human-robot interaction is presented.