Competence Centre Arbeitswelt.Plus

In the Competence Center Arbeitswelt.Plus, universities and companies from OstWestfalenLippe are working together with IG Metall to develop approaches for the introduction of artificial intelligence in the working world, for example with regard to workplace design and the qualification of employees. In eight lighthouse projects, research institutions and companies are working together with trade union partners to test concrete solutions in which AI technologies are made available for various fields of application. In this context, equal attention is paid to the areas of people, technology and organization.

At the Hannover Messe: Better ergonomics at the workplace thanks to motion capture

How can industrial production processes be made more ergonomic? How can employees be relieved and supported in their work? At a demonstrator from the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, trade fair visitors can experience how ergonomics at industrial workplaces are analyzed by motion capture and optimized with the help of artificial intelligence.

Experts have long been concerned with human ergonomics - but often in everyday situations rather than in moments of particular stress, such as those that can occur in assembly. In the competence center Arbeitswelt.Plus, the Center for Applied Data Science at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences is researching the topic of ergonomics in the workplace and has developed a demonstrator for this purpose: Motion capture is used to analyze motion sequences at a manual workstation. Seventeen sensors attached to a special suit determine the precise position of each body part, creating a virtual model of the person, his posture and his movements. Thanks to the sensor technology, the researchers do not have to rely on cameras and are therefore not spatially constrained in their movements. With this model, ergonomic measurements are possible without the interruptions or spatial limitations that camera recordings would entail. Once the data is captured, it is analyzed on the Center for Applied Data Science's Data Analytics Cluster. In the process, AI learns about typical human movements and can predict body positions, making ergonomic studies less costly and therefore less time-consuming.

Motion capture and AI solutions make it possible to gain new insights into ergonomic workplaces and thus improve working conditions. In the competence center, the results and solutions are made available to small and medium-sized enterprises.