Assessment of mental workload In setting up fused filament fabrication equipment

Abstract

The objective of this chapter was to assess the mental load generated by the task of setting up an FFF printer, before the printing process. The reason for this evaluation is due to the portion of the resources demanded by the task. These resources result in the degradation of performance if the execution of the task is not carried out correctly, resulting in real problems in the printing process, and as a consequence the repetition of the setting up tasks. The task analyzed consisted of setting up 3d printing equipment. The activities that integrate the task were: connection of the equipment of electrical terminal, turn on the equipment, leveling of the printing bed, preheating of the equipment, and feeding of material. A group of ten participants was integrated; each participant had experience in the handle of FFF equipment. The participants develop activities of prototyping in FFF as their activities of researcher assistants in prototyping lab and ergonomic design lab in UACJ. Three phases integrated the methodology; 1) Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA), 2) assessment workload with NASA-TLX and 3) analysis results. The results describe that mental demand, temporal demand, and effort were the sub-scales with higher punctuation (79, 59, and 57). That means that participants manifest workload due the mental demand (generated by thinking about the sequence of activities developed and for develop, deciding the type of equipment adjustments, observing the results of the fit tests, and looking for solution to problems with the equipment), temporal demand (pressure of the time produced by the maximum time allowed by the setting up), and effort (generated firstly by mental activities). Based on the results, it is concluded that the use of mental load assessment methodology facilitates the identification of mental load generating elements associated with a specific task, which allows proposing a modification to the equipment focused on reducing the effect of mental load over users of AM technologies.