Neuroergonomic Stress Assessment with Two Different Methodologies, in a Manual Repetitive Task-Product Assembly

Emotions are a fundamental part of mental health and human behavior. In the workplace, optimal performance of employees is necessary for productivity enhancements and its relation to the quality of a manufacturing product, therefore leading a company to advantages and competitiveness. This means that the workplace staff must remain in a neutral or a calm emotional state, for an adequate job performance. When an operation is not pleasant or the same task is carried out for a long period of time (repetitive), it can cause negative emotions such as stress, and this will have repercussions in poor work performance. The purpose of this research is, by means of an electroencephalogram (EEG), to identify the stress in the repetitive assembly of a manufacturing product. To measure brain waves, the Emotiv Epoc equipment was used and a manufacturing line was designed, divided into three workstations, where the assembly of product comprising a LEGO car was carried out within a manual repetitive approach. The appearance of stress was determined by employing two different methodologies, the prefrontal relative gamma marker (RG) and the valence, arousal, and dominance (VAD) emotional categories. The results obtained from the first methodology, corresponding to the RG marker, displayed a significant more change between the relaxation state and the product assembly carried out at 70% of the standard time (ST). A less significant change was observed between the relaxation state and the product assembly carried out at 100% ST, thus signaling the presence of stress. Additionally, the results from the VAD methodology resulted in moderate and low levels of stress, when the product assembly was carried out at 70% and 100% standard time, respectively.