Communicating the user state: Introducing cognition-aware computing in industrial settings

Abstract

Wearable sensors provide the possibility to move from conventional, explicit human computer interaction (HCI), to more natural implicit HCI. In an implicit HCI context, the computer interprets human physiological and behavioral data as its input, enabling the development of cognition-aware computing for the user state monitoring. In this work, we made a first step towards development of the cognition-aware computing in the industrial environments, through the introduction of a sensitive workplace. For this, we replicated the real-life workplace and equipped it with wearable electroencephalography (EEG) and motion sensor (Kinect) recording. We further investigated interaction between brain dynamics, as reflected in P300 event-related potential (ERP) component amplitude and engagement index (El), and behavioral modalities of movement energy, all of which reflects the user state. The ultimate goal of the study is a proposal of the system for on-line detection of deviations in user state, ultimately preventing operators' errors and improving working experience.