Eye-Tracking for Cognitive Load Assessments in a Manufacturing Environment: A Feasibility Study

Maintaining cognitive load that is neither too high nor too low is key for workplace safety and efficiency. Cognitive load assessment research is often conducted in highly controlled laboratory environments that, by nature, come short of fully recreating the everyday manufacturing floors. In this feasibility study we explore the viability of adopting eye-tracker for assessing workers’ cognitive load as they complete seatbelt manufacturing assemblies in a factory workplace. Following the industrial partner’s availability, four assembly workers were selected for this feasibility study. They wore a portable Pupil Labs eye-tracker while completing seatbelt assembly tasks. Mental task demand was measured using subjective ratings. Results showed that the quality of the eye-tracking data was high in spite of the highly dynamic full-body motions required to complete assemblies. Also, no evidence was found that the presence of the eye-tracker interfered with task completion. Tasks deemed more mentally demanding were associated with greater pupil size and blink rate, a pattern consistent with laboratory research. Despite this study’s limitations, including its small sample size, these findings represent preliminary evidence for the adoption of eye-tracking metrics for conducting cognitive ergonomics assessments on factory floors.