Development and Evaluation of Voice Navigation System to Support Solo Operations

To improve work efficiency and address the labor shortages caused by the declining birth rate in recent years, we developed a voice navigation system that enables a single person to perform maintenance and operation work on electric power facilities, which is typically performed by a team of two people. We conducted an evaluation experiment, in which the task was to shut down a high-voltage power-receiving facility. A comparison was made between the conventional method, in which two individuals worked in pairs, and the system condition, in which the voice navigation system developed in this study was used. The system conditions proved advantageous in that work could be performed without time pressure; stable performance was achieved regardless of the instructor; instruction misstatements could be eliminated; and time efficiency was better when a single person worked using the voice navigation system than two people working together. However, the disadvantages included an increased sense of burden on the worker and frustration caused by the long waiting times for the system to respond. We believe that the practicality of the voice navigation system can be improved by developing a system that supports the operator's perceptual activities and reduces the response waiting time.