Identifying stress, predicting stress: by using a dynamic organizer for work breaks logistics companies can organize work and control resources more flexibly within the warehouse and for transportation staff too. This is made possible by a new service that was developed within the context of the Silicon Economy: the »Dynamic Break«.
The »Dynamic Break« project demonstrates that artificial intelligence will soon not only be negotiating, controlling and planning the worldwide flows of goods, but will also be involved in many other areas of logistics: this digital solution will individually recommend short recovery breaks to employees based on real stress parameters measured by a sensor wristband which the employees wear. In this way, critical stress levels cannot only be identified but can even be predicted. This is made possible by analyzing vital signs based on machine learning: i.e., patterns can be identified in an employee’s vital signs that result in a recommendation to take a break.
The logistics industry is very interested in the solution from the Silicon Economy development project, which has now been completed, because: »On the one hand, companies need to adapt their previously rigid structures for work organization so that they are closer to the actual demands of intralogistics and transport. On the other hand, companies today are also increasingly looking at key figures such as sickness and retention rates which are influenced by typical logistics work requirements but also by an increased amount of intensive work«, explains Dr. Veronika Kretschmer of Fraunhofer IML who was in charge of the development project as product owner. »In the area of transport logistics in particular, interaction between mental and physical exhaustion can lead to a higher risk of accidents.«
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Picture: Fraunhofer IML/Michael Neuhaus
