COGNITO – A Cognitive Assistance and Training System for Manual Tasks in Industry

COGNITO – A Cognitive Assistance and Training System for Manual Tasks in Industry
Dominic Gorecky, Simon F. Worgan, Gerrit Meixner
Proceedings of the 29th European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics (ECCE-11), Designing Collaborative Activities, August 24-26, Rostock, Germany

Abstract:

In this paper we present a novel concept for cognitive assistance and training in manual industrial assembly. In the European FP7 project COGNITO, our aim is to design a mobile, personal system, which instructs operators in task solving and tool handling. The system not only provides instructions, but it is also able to understand and induce human workflows. Due to its high sensing capabilities, the system automatically analyzes and records assembly workflows by observing advanced users to build-up a system-internal understanding of assembly processes. The captured knowledge is then used by the system to assist and train inexperienced operators. The overall approach is based on state-of-the-art techniques in motion and object tracking, task analysis, decision-making and user-adaptive visualisation by means of augmented reality. The COGNITO system is an important step towards cognitive operator support. Enterprise knowledge can be documented, shared and applied in a cooperative and interactive manner, enabling human operators to keep pace with increased complexity in industrial processes.