Use of an eye-tracker to assess workers in ceramic tile surface defect detection

The inspection and classification of ceramic tiles in a production line can be done automatically by use of digital cameras and image processing algorithms. However, due to the investment and maintenance costs of these systems, there are still several firms that assign workers for ceramic tile surface defect detection. Also, human inspection system can effectively challenge this task to a good accuracy. This study aims to attract attention to the mental workload that results from high concentration during visual inspection. A mobile type eye-tracker is used to record the data for duration of fixation and number of fixations to determine fatigue that arises over a period of working time. Data are analyzed and comments are made for workers, type of the ceramic tile, and working period without rest. It is concluded that the eye tracking systems have a potential to identify human related problems during visual inspection.