Information at Hand – Using Wearable Devices to Display Task Information in the Context of Industry 4.0

AbstractIn the context of Industry 4.0 and the extensive interconnection of every part of the production process, the industrial worker will still maintain a key role. It is important to support the workers by utilizing ongoing digitalization at work and also to provide suitable concepts for communication between human and automation. A possible solution could be the application of wearable devices such as smartwatches. They are able to automatically collect data about the state of the worker as well as provide relevant information for the worker about the status of machines. The aim of the present research is to investigate whether smartwatches are a suitable alternative to conventional methods of displaying information in an industrial environment - despite some limitations of smartwatches, like the small screen. Therefore, we conducted a laboratory study displaying different amount of information (a list of six tasks vs. only the next task) on different devices (monitor screen vs. smartwatch screen). We asked 32 participants to follow the displayed instructions and fulfill the tasks (crossword puzzles, Sudoku, number connection task). Afterwards, the participants rated the different types of information display with questionnaires (e.g., User Experience Questionnaire). Results show significant differences in some aspects of user experience supporting the advantage of utilizing smartwatches in an industrial context. However, information on a smartwatch should be as short and meaningful as possible.