An investigation of cognitive load effect using augmented reality glasses in an automotive assembly line


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

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

Approval Date: 2021

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: Yağmur Dila İkiz

Supervisor: TÜLİN GÜNDÜZ

Abstract:

Augmented Reality (AR) technology, one of the technologies that emerged within the scope of Industry 4.0, helps users with virtual images of the working environment that can be seen on the user's real screen. Although AR provides benefits to users in terms of efficiency and quality, but it is still not known exactly what cognitive load it has on users. Cognitive load refers to the resources used by the working memory in the brain. In this study, the effect of the use of AR glasses on the cognitive loads of assembly line employees of an automobile company was investigated. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure cognitive load. A comparison was made according to the gender (female-male) and age (under 35-over 35) of the employees. The difference between first and last days of the trials was examined using the Wilcoxon test to determine the compliance status of the employees. According to the statistical results, since p <0.05 and the average of the experiments using AR glasses (18.96) is higher than the average of the experiments (5.24) without AR glasses, it was observed that there is less cognitive load on the employees when they use AR glasses. Analyzes of female and male participants and participants under 35 years of age and over 35 years of age were performed with the Mann Whitney U test, and their p values were 0.0531 and 0.2733, respectively. These results also showed that there is no significant difference between the comparisons of female and male and participants under 35 years of age and over 35 years of age. Comparisons between the first and last days of device use were made using the Wilcoxon test. As a result of the analysis, the p value was found to be 0.856 and it was seen that there was no significant difference between the first and the last days. Therefore, it was concluded that AR glasses do not have an effect on cognitive load in terms of gender, age, and the device does create an extra cognitive load since the first day of use.