Cognitive & physical assessment
Flanders Make offers tools and methods to analyse your workplace, to optimise the division of tasks between operator and cobots and to quantify the stress caused by this human-robot collaboration and the introduction of new technologies in the workplace.
Location: Flanders Make – Kortrijk/ Flanders Make - Leuven / FlandersMake@VUB
Automation has made life for operators a lot easier. Robots are taking over an increasing number of heavy and repetitive tasks. Nowadays, production environments are dealing with ever more increasing challenges. Clients are demanding smaller series (size-1-production) at the cost of large series production, while products are becoming increasingly complex. This causes a high need for flexibility, which cannot be resolved by traditional automation. Qualified operators are critical for those activities, but unfortunately their availability on the job market is scarce. Therefore, more and more attention is given to operator wellbeing and creation of a good work environment. Analysis of physical and cognitive loads are essential to pin down the right support systems.
Available equipment
PHYSICAL LOAD ASSESSMENT EQUIPMENT
- Multiple 3D motion tracking systems
- Vicon optical Mocap system
- Qualisys optical Mocap system
- Xsens / Movella - IMU based Mocap
- Manus Prime X Haptic VR (finger tracking gloves)
- HTC VIVE Pro VR tracking
- TEA CAPTIV imu-based Mocap system
- Ultra-Wide Band positioning
- Force plates, insoles, ...
- Kistler force plates
- Force-sensitive treadmill
- Moticon insoles
- Hoggan ergo Glove
- TEA CAPTIV force transducer
- Force meter Mark 10
- Force measurement device Ergo FET
- Impact measurement PRMS set Pilz
PHYSIOLOGICAL SENSORS
- Cometa sEMGs
- TMSI SAGA64+
- VO2 Master
- Equivital Life monitor
- Empatica
- CAPTIV Physiological sensors
- TELEMED ArtUs EXT 2H
OTHER DEVICES
- AR headsets
- Cameras
For detailed information around each device, download the sheet at the bottom.
What do we offer?
We perform assessments of your current assembly workstation regarding cognitive and physical loads on the operator. We use state-of-the-art measuring equipment and/or surveys filled in by the operators. This input is used to assess the feasibility of turning your manual assembly process into a collaborative one. This would improve your organisation's capabilities of dealing with the increasing demand for mass customization.
For each task, we use criteria such as ergonomics, stress, precision, variability and execution time, to decide whether the task should be done by either a robot, the operator or both. Based on this input, we set up an optimal assembly schedule increasing productivity and/or reducing the load on the operator. Finally we validate the effect of the applied changes on the work station in terms of ergonomics, stress and productivity.
To summarize:
- Analyse your workplace
- Quantify the physical and mental loads on operators in an industrial an laboratory context
- Biomechanical analysis of operators working with exoskeletons or subject to other external forces
- Analyse the introduction of new technologies in the workplace with respect to operator wellbeing
- Impact tests in accordance with the specifications in ISO/TS 15066
- Integration of your sensors into our measurement environment with many synchronisation options
- Development and testing of ergonomic feedback systems