Development of interactive virtual environments in order to evaluate questions of usability in the field of work-safety

A badly designed human-machine-interface frequently leads to operation errors. The human-machine-interface is often designed in a way that leads the user to cognitive misinterpretations which in turn result in mistakes. The task of this research project was to investigate exemplarily to what extent it would be possible to conduct directed usability tests on working machines without any real threat for the subjects.

Methods:

• Modeling and simulation of a lathe in the Immersion Square at the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
• Reproduction of display and steering of a lathe
• Dynamic simulation of the sound of the machine and background noises
• Investigations of subjects that are operating lathes including surveys

Results:

The major question of this research project, if it is possible to conduct investigations on work safety of machines in a virtual environment, can clearly be confirmed. In favor of this are both the performance data (match of performance with predicted degree of difficulty of the task) and the high acceptance of the investigation by the subjects.

Another result of the concluded research project is that in future investigations on work safety in a virtual environment there should be a special focus on the quality of the display. This applies especially for the resolution of the display, the perspective (best solution would be a variable perspective, provided by head-tracking) and the synchronization of sensory characteristics of different sensory organs (vision, audio, etc.).

It was shown, that dangerous situations on working machines can be simulated, so that it is now possible to investigate secure solutions in a safe environment. It is for example possible to conduct directed investigations of safety mechanisms in virtual reality to figure out if they work properly or if they handicap the user. Safety mechanisms that constrict the user with his work are often manipulated. These manipulations cause severe accidents which shows the importance of constructing the mechanisms very carefully.