Human Work and Status Evaluation Based on Wearable Sensors in Human Factors and Ergonomics: A Review

Humans are an important component of human-machine systems. A better understanding of the role and the status of humans can facilitate and improve the overall human-machine system performance, as well as ensure the well-being of humans. In human factors and ergonomics (HF/E), conventional methods of human performance evaluation usually require the efforts of trained personnel for data collection, data analysis, and the explanation of results. There is an emerging need for a novel and cost-efficient method of assessing human work and status in various systems. The development of wearable technologies has improved the potential for developing a smarter and automatic solution to performing relevant evaluations. In this paper, the authors conduct a scoping review of the studies published from 2001 to 2017 that focused on wearable sensor technology and propose a framework to summarize the research topics. The main steps in the framework include data collection, data processing, and system feedback. Specifically, considering the gaps between current HF/E studies of wearables and the available resources, the authors conducted a detailed review of the application of wearables in HF/E human work evaluation. The opportunities and challenges of introducing wearable sensors into HF/E evaluation are discussed.