Data glasses for picking workplaces: Impact on physical workloads

Abstract

In the field of logistics the interest in wearable computing devices is constantly growing. In earlier studies it has been shown that data glasses can be a powerful tool for optimising warehouse management processes. However, those studies exclusively dealt with the impact of smart glasses on the efficiency of labour whereas our approach focuses on investigating the influence of data glasses on physical workloads. For this purpose we have designed a simplified picking workplace that enables us to carry out motion analyses and the concurrent assessment of physiological parameters under lab conditions. In this article we present the key features of our picking machine and the tailor-made measurement protocols together with the adequate evaluation methods that are used to quantify the effects of smart glasses on the physical workloads imposed on the study subjects.