Cognitive Assistance to Support Maintenance and Assembly Tasks: Results on Technology Acceptance of a Head-Mounted Device

This paper presents a study investigating the user acceptance (i.e. the perceived ease of use, willingness to use the system over time, and perceived usefulness) of a smart head-mounted device that can be used as assistive technology for maintenance and assembly. In particular, we focus on the head-mounted display named HMT-1 from RealWear. The uniqueness of this technology is, among other things, that it offers the possibility to fold away the display with the instructions, allowing more control over the appearance of assistive content than in other head-mounted displays. Overall, 48 participants took part in this interview study. They mentioned some advantages (e.g., that the hands are free and that one can see the instructions while working on something else at the same time) and disadvantages of the technology (such as usability issues). They also suggested that the technology is suitable for non-routine tasks and tasks of medium-to-high complexity. Our findings highlight that a cognitive assistive technology is perceived as positive when direct assistance is available (in the visual field of the worker) with a possibility to control the system.