Worker-Worn Mobile Device Spatial Environment Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional techniques for visualizing the spatial distribution of measurement values in a manufacturing environment, such as factories, require the use of robots or vehicles, which are costly and difficult to control, making it impractical to manage the working environment of moving workers effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method involving mobile devices worn by workers that conduct environment measurements and transmit data, allowing for the creation of maps showing spatial distribution of measurement values, eliminating the need for robots or vehicles and reducing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If robots or vehicles are used to carry out environment measurement, then measurement coverage and data quality are improved, but system cost and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive robots and vehicles with mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, wearables) that workers already possess or use daily. These mobile devices copy the measurement function by integrating sensors into familiar portable equipment, eliminating the need for specialized robotic measurement systems while maintaining measurement capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses inexpensive mobile devices that workers already carry instead of expensive robots. These mobile devices are commercially available, easily replaceable, and do not require complex maintenance, thereby reducing both initial investment and ongoing operational costs while simplifying the measurement system.
2Area of stationary object
If robots or vehicles are deployed in non-exclusive factory paths, then measurement coverage is improved, but worker safety and operational interference worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of deploying measurement equipment (robots/vehicles) into the workspace where workers operate, the patent inverts the approach by equipping the workers themselves with measurement-capable mobile devices. This reverses the traditional measurement paradigm, allowing workers to be both the operators and the measurement instruments, thereby eliminating safety risks associated with autonomous vehicles in mixed human-robot environments.
Solution Approach 2:
Workers perform environment measurement themselves using their own mobile devices while carrying out their normal tasks. This self-service approach eliminates the need for separate autonomous measurement vehicles to navigate the workspace, thereby removing the safety hazards and operational interference that would result from deploying robots or vehicles in areas where workers are actively employed.
3Extent of automation
If autonomous vehicles are used for environment measurement, then measurement automation is improved, but control difficulty and operational reliability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent copies the measurement function from autonomous vehicles to mobile devices that workers already use and understand. Since workers are familiar with operating these devices and navigating the workspace, the automation reliability issue is resolved by leveraging human operational expertise rather than attempting to program complex autonomous navigation for measurement purposes.
Data Source
AI summary
A management method for managing a working environment of a worker who moves in a workplace includes: a receiving process of receiving, from a mobile device worn by the worker, (i) a measurement value that has been obtained in a measuring process of carrying out environment measurement and (ii) positional information indicative of a location at which the measuring process has been carried out; and a making process of making, with reference to the measurement value and the positional information, a map that shows spatial distribution of measurement values in the workplace.