Development and Evaluation of a Tangible Interaction Concept for Assembly Workstations.

In the development and research of IT-supported systems, the user is increasingly in the center of attention. Therefore, we investigated the approach of how beneficial it would be to use tangibles (physical objects) as an interaction option for the user at an assemble workstation. For this purpose, we designed an augmented reality concept for the use of tangibles at a manual assembly workstation and evaluated it with an eye tracking study. Through the study, we found that the participants were very comfortable with the tangible interaction concept, learned very quickly, and found it very easy to use. Further, we present how it is possible to improve assistance systems, such as pick-by-light systems, with the use of augmented reality and tangibles. For this, we show that the use of tangibles offers many advantages like training new employees fast at an assembly workstation.