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Applied Sciences
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Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0
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Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Computing and Artificial Intelligence".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 October 2024 | Viewed by 5213

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Byung Yong Jeong

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Hansung University, Seoul 02876, Republic of Korea
Interests: occupational safety and health; human factors and ergonomics; user-centered design; universal safety and design; safety and health management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yonghwan Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Smart Experience Design, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Republic of Korea
Interests: user experience strategy; human factors in design; interaction design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Ken Nah

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Design Management, IDAS, Hongik University, Seoul 03082, Republic of Korea
Interests: human factors; ergonomic design; design management; design research; design thinking; industrial engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The physical and cognitive characteristics of workers and consumers have become increasingly diversified. As a research field focusing on such diversification, human–computer interaction explores the relationship between humans and technologies, computers/robots, environments, and systems. Smart factory and Industry 4.0 have recently emerged as essential concepts related to human-centered automated systems, both of which strive to improve the efficiency, flexibility, and customization of the worker­­–consumer domain by integrating digital technologies and human characteristics into manufacturing and service processes. This Special Issue addresses different disciplinary backgrounds and domains in order to study the applicability of digital technologies in social interactions. Incorporating human factors and interaction into the design of technology can accommodate various individual preferences and abilities, in addition to minimizing hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. This approach focuses on understanding humans in relation to the manufacturing process, public spaces, cultural anthropology, and information processing, and explore human–human, human–product, human–computer/robot, and human–system interactions.

We welcome the submission of original works, reviews, and short communications, with topics including the following:

  • UI/UX design and human-centered systems;
  • Computing and artificial intelligence in Industry 4.0 and Operator 4.0;
  • Work-related injuries and illnesses in the era of Industry 4.0;
  • Human–computer interaction/social robotics and human–robot interaction;
  • Behavioral, physiological, micro, and macro ergonomics;
  • State-of-the-art reviews that cover all aspects of social interactions.

Prof. Dr. Byung Yong Jeong
Prof. Dr. Yonghwan Pan
Prof. Dr. Ken Nah
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • human-centered design
  • user experience and interaction design
  • universal safety and design
  • human error
  • work-related safety and health
  • sustainable and accessible design
  • human–computer interaction
  • social robotics and human–robot interaction
  • human factors in computing and artificial intelligence

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 243 KiB  
Article
Exposure Time to Work-Related Hazards and Factors Affecting Musculoskeletal Pain in Nurses
by Woo Jin Kim and Byung Yong Jeong
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(6), 2468; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14062468 - 14 Mar 2024
Viewed by 520
Abstract
Nurses who work in hospitals are exposed to various occupational hazards and are recognized as having high rates of musculoskeletal pain. This study aims to estimate the level of exposure to work-related hazards for nurses working in hospitals and derive factors that affect [...] Read more.
Nurses who work in hospitals are exposed to various occupational hazards and are recognized as having high rates of musculoskeletal pain. This study aims to estimate the level of exposure to work-related hazards for nurses working in hospitals and derive factors that affect back pain, upper limb pain, and lower limb pain. This study was conducted on 462 nurses from the 6th Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) data, deriving exposure time related to physical, biochemical, and ergonomic hazards. Also, using binomial logistic regression analysis, this study determines the factors influencing musculoskeletal pain by comprehensively considering work-related factors and physical, biochemical, and ergonomic hazards. The exposure time for standing is the highest, followed by repetitive movements, awkward postures, patient lifting/carrying, infection, heavy object handling, and vibration. The average exposure times to occupational hazards were higher for nurses experiencing pain in their back, upper limbs, and lower limbs than those without pain complaints. Factors that contribute to back pain include years of work experience (p = 0.002), type of healthcare establishment (p = 0.001), exposure level to vibration (p = 0.029), and awkward posture level (p < 0.001). Factors affecting upper limb pain include the type of shift work (p = 0.013), handling heavy objects (p < 0.001), awkward postures (p = 0.033), and repetitive movements (p = 0.002). The factors that influence lower limb pain are awkward posture (p = 0.001), patient lifting/carrying (p = 0.002), and repetitive movements (p = 0.006). This study emphasizes the importance of implementing strategies to improve occupational hazards to prevent or alleviate musculoskeletal pain. These findings provide practical guidance for managing risk factors and preventing musculoskeletal disorders among nursing professionals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0)
15 pages, 3058 KiB  
Article
Which Thumb, the Left or Right, Touches the Letter Keys on a Smartphone QWERTY Soft Keyboard during Two-Thumb Key Entry?
by Hayeon Yu, Yunha Park and Joonho Chang
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(22), 12417; https://doi.org/10.3390/app132212417 - 16 Nov 2023
Viewed by 980
Abstract
This study aims to observe which thumb, the left or right, is used for keystrokes and examine the patterns during two-thumb key entry on a smartphone QWERTY soft keyboard. A total of 36 college students, including 18 left-handed and 18 right-handed, were recruited [...] Read more.
This study aims to observe which thumb, the left or right, is used for keystrokes and examine the patterns during two-thumb key entry on a smartphone QWERTY soft keyboard. A total of 36 college students, including 18 left-handed and 18 right-handed, were recruited for testing, and they had 9.7 years of smartphone use experience on average. A smartphone application was implemented, and whether the left or right thumb was used for touch interactions was recorded for each of the 26 letter keys. As a result, it was found that there were slightly more letter keys that were statistically more often tapped by the left thumb during the two-thumb key entry on the QWERTY soft keyboard, regardless of the participant’s handedness. In addition, all the letter keys were touched statistically more often with the relatively closer one of both thumbs, except for the letter keys G and V in the center. It seemed that the distance between keys and thumbs was regarded as the most important factor influencing the thumb choice for keystrokes, followed by the habituated experience of using physical QWERTY keyboards. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0)
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19 pages, 1655 KiB  
Article
Could You Evaluate Sounds in a Virtual Environment? Evaluation Components of Auditory Experience in a Metaverse Environment
by Byoungwoo Park, Kiechan Namkung and Younghwan Pan
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(19), 10991; https://doi.org/10.3390/app131910991 - 05 Oct 2023
Viewed by 962
Abstract
The study aims to develop an auditory experience evaluation questionnaire to improve metaverse environments’ presence and derive evaluation components considering the acoustic and auditory user experience (AUX) through a survey. After conducting a survey with a total of 232 participants, five evaluation components [...] Read more.
The study aims to develop an auditory experience evaluation questionnaire to improve metaverse environments’ presence and derive evaluation components considering the acoustic and auditory user experience (AUX) through a survey. After conducting a survey with a total of 232 participants, five evaluation components were extracted from auditory presence and AUX evaluation factors through principal component analysis (PCA) and reliability analysis (RA): ‘realistic auditory background’, ‘acoustic aesthetics’, ‘consideration of acoustic control and accessibility’, ‘auditory utility and minimalist design’, and ‘auditory consistency’. In particular, although AUX evaluation factors such as ‘ease of access to sound control’ have limitations in improving the sense of presence, negative factors of presence such as ‘distraction due to sound’ can be improved by utilizing AUX evaluation factors, so it is judged that the sense of presence in the metaverse environments can be improved by enhancing the auditory sense of presence and AUX evaluation factors according to the composition of the five evaluation components derived in the study. The study can be used as a basis for developing an auditory experience evaluation questionnaire for the metaverse platform, creating sound design guidelines, and identifying sound development priorities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0)
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12 pages, 3220 KiB  
Article
Thermal Effusivity Tester (TET)—A New Device to Determine Thermal Effusivity of Textiles
by Mohammad Abu-Rous, Susanne Schürz-Peschka, Rajivdrsingh Kishore Sobhee, Jo-Ann Innerlohinger, Josef Lughofer and Walter Milacher
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(15), 8749; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13158749 - 28 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 866
Abstract
Thermal effusivity tester (TET) is a new device to measure the thermal conductivity and the thermal effusivity (heat dissipation) of textiles under a defined compression, developed at the R&D department of Lenzing AG (Austria). The device performance was tested by comparing its results [...] Read more.
Thermal effusivity tester (TET) is a new device to measure the thermal conductivity and the thermal effusivity (heat dissipation) of textiles under a defined compression, developed at the R&D department of Lenzing AG (Austria). The device performance was tested by comparing its results with results from commercially available devices Alambeta, TCi Thermal Conductivity Analyzer and Kawabata KES-f thermal module. The fabrics tested were typical knit and weave constructions made of different fiber types, including cotton, wood-based cellulosics and polyester. For most of the fabrics, thermal effusivity results show wide agreement among TET, Alambeta and TCi, and strong positive correlation (r > 0.82) with heat flow (Qmax) as obtained from KES. Deviations were observed for some thicker and more resilient fabrics, most probably caused by the differences in the pressure applied by the devices on the fabric surface. The results show that TET offers a reliable and experimentally flexible approach to assessing thermal effusivity on textile structures and emphasizing the role of the dimensional change induced by the measurement conditions on the measured thermal effusivity and conductivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0)
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12 pages, 2343 KiB  
Article
Effects of Footpad Slope, Movement Direction and Contact Part of Foot on Foot-Based Interactions
by Sang-Won Kim and Seung-Kweon Hong
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 6636; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13116636 - 30 May 2023
Viewed by 1348
Abstract
Feet cannot perform tasks as quickly and with as much dexterity as hands. However, due to the heavy workload placed on hands, there is potential for feet to replace or assist them . In order to use feet more effectively, this study aims [...] Read more.
Feet cannot perform tasks as quickly and with as much dexterity as hands. However, due to the heavy workload placed on hands, there is potential for feet to replace or assist them . In order to use feet more effectively, this study aims to find ways to increase the speed and accuracy of directly touching a touchpad with the feet while in a seated position. The study investigates the effects of three factors: the slope of the touchpad, the direction of the foot movement, and the touch area of the foot used. Regarding the direction of the foot movement, the study found that the most effective direction for both accuracy and speed was at a 30° angle to the right when the front of the right foot was set at 0°. The 0° and 60° angles showed similar efficiencies, but were lower than the 30° angle. The study also found that using the big toe as the touch area resulted in the best speed, accuracy, and subjective satisfaction. The index toe was the second-best option, while using the ball of the foot was the least accurate and slowest option. Lastly, using an slope angle of 15° for the touchpad was found to increase work efficiency compared to using a 7° slope angle. These findings can serve as guidelines for designing foot interfaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human-Computer Interaction in Smart Factory and Industry 4.0)
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