Study of a Method to Evaluate Sorting Task Aptitude in the Process of Producing Food Products

Abstract

This paper applies virtual reality technology to propose a method of easily estimating sorting task aptitude. For the analysis of a sorting task, a task analysis apparatus to which actual equipment and virtual reality technology are applied was produced. The apparatus has the capability to determine that all of the defective products were detected in the sorting task, analyze the sorting task separately from the actual process, and set the task conditions, such as the conveyor speed and the types and locations of defective products, in a short period of time. The method comprises the steps of using cluster analysis based on the sorting task time on an actual conveyor to classify the subjects into groups according to their sorting task aptitude and using the cross-validation method to select an estimation model for estimating the sorting task aptitude on the actual conveyor from the sorting task time in a virtual task area. Finally, the present method was applied to estimate the sorting task aptitude of workers in the process of producing food products, and review the relationship between the sorting task aptitude and personal arrangement.