Högskolan i Skövde

Proactive eye-gaze (PEG) is a behavioural pattern where eye fixations precede actions, such as reaching. With the proliferation of eye-tracking technology, PEG shows promise for predicting human actions, which has many applications, for example, within industrial human-robot collaboration (HRC). This study investigates PEG in repetitive assembly tasks. Eye-tracking data from four experienced workers were recorded and analysed. The study recorded 57 assembly sessions, identifying 3793 fixations, of which 35% were proactive gazes. The mean PEG interval was 795 ms. Contrary to the hypothesis, PEG was found to be as strong, if not stronger, in repetitive tasks compared to previous studies investigating PEG in other contexts. These findings suggest PEG could be a reliable predictor of worker actions in repetitive tasks, enhancing coordination in HRC.

Product disassembly and inspection are essential operations in a sustainable product life cycle, particularly in end-of-life strategies such as remanufacturing. This study identifies critical aspects of usability of a framework that supports the remanufacturing process and its operators. Two of the challenges faced by operators in remanufacturing are the number of product variants and quality decisions. As a result of these, the performance time and the number of errors committed increase. The integration of Augmented Reality (AR), product lifecycle management and expert systems increase the efficiency of managing stored data and supports the remanufacturing process and its operators. A head-mounted display has been used to run the application, allowing the operator to take it right to the working area. The information displayed during the manufacturing processes includes CAD models or images of the industrial equipment and its components and dynamic information, providing clear instructions easy to follow during the remanufacturing process. The proposed methodologic approach uses the concept of rule-based Expert Systems to determine the information content that is dynamically displayed on the AR device and to optimise the route that should be followed in remanufacturing operations. A pilot testing was done to assess the functional suitability of the final AR application to support the delivery of dynamic information in its final industrial environment. The evaluation was done in a real-working environment selecting the assembly, disassembly and inspection operations as a base. A questionnaire to measure the usability of the system was provided to the test subjects after the testing. The results from the questionnaire show a positive perception of the usability of the framework. According to the result analysis, the framework has high usability and can reduce errors and impaired decision-making.

Product disassembly and inspection are essential operations in a sustainable product life cycle, particularly in end-of-life strategies such as remanufacturing. This study describes the most frequent issues and outcomes that can be encountered during the implementation of a framework for the integration of technologies such as augmented reality, product identifiers and product lifecycle management in the context of disassembly and inspection. It is believed that the development of such framework could provide a secure, efficient management of stored data and a comprehensive support to the work process and the operators carrying out the disassembly and inspection.

In an ever changing market that expands continuously and where innovations cycles become shorter, there is an important increase of the renewal frequency of the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and vehicles. This makes the manufacture of EEE and vehicles a fast-growing source of waste in terms of used products. The immense amount of information generated by all these technological products which are currently in the market must be managed throughout the whole life cycle of the products. The problem is to provide information about the technological product’s reusability in the recycling process given the colossal complexity of many products and the lifespan of operation. This includes instructions about the components qualifications as elements in a new product. Technologies such as augmented reality (AR) combined with product lifecycle management (PLM) systems can provide the platform for an information system that provides the necessary information and support for the decommissioning process of EEE and vehicles at the end of their life cycle.

The present project describes the framework of integration between AR and PLM with the purpose of recycling a technological product at the end of its life cycle. The proposed method of integration could be considered to constitute both an innovation and a possible improvement if compared with the current approach. It is believed that the development of a method that addresses the issue of integration between AR and PLM could provide with a secure, efficient management of stored data related to various products and their properties related to the recycling process at the end-of-life of the product. The result of this approach is an AR-PLM system architecture which assists the circular economy’s recycling process by the use of visual information superimposed on the physical technological equipment.

Horseshoes are manufactured metal plates developed in an extensive assortment of materials and shapes and their main function is to protect the horse’s hooves and legs against abrasion and rupture. After a certain period of time the horseshoes are lost, worn out, or the hoof needs to be treated. Horseshoeing is a repetitive time consuming process for the farrier who has to heat the horseshoe inside a forge until it reaches the required temperature and shape it with a hammer until it fits perfectly to the horses’ hoof. The main goal of this project is to develop a horseshoe bending machine able to shape the horseshoe so its shape fits perfectly the horse’s hoof. The calculation of the bending force needed to be applied to the horseshoe in order to provoke a plastic deformation will be done with Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The bending force is then used to design and dimension each element of the bending mechanism so that it may be able to resist the stresses and prevent the parts from collapsing during its working life span. A study of the springback effect will be done followed by the analysis of the hertzian contact stresses between the rollers and the horseshoe. In addition, a clamping system is selected to constrain the movements of the horseshoe during the bending process. This machine will reduce the final user’s horse maintenance costs at the same time that makes the fitting process easier and less demanding, which will improve the farrier’s working life span and quality.