Meet Frida Graf

In the world of ergonomics, small margins can have big impacts.

For Frida Graf, a senior ergonomics specialist at Atlas Copco Group, success might simply be changing the shape of a tool’s handle or tweaking its location in relation to the center of gravity. Both can have transformative effects on the ability of factory staff to work safely and more productively. 

“Spotting users doing something in a way that is harmful, then going home to the drawing board to find solutions before moving through the testing process. When you come back and see the new design being used in the proper way, that’s what gives me the most satisfaction.”

Frida has worked at Atlas Copco Industrial Technique for eight years and is a specialist in "humancentric" design in a world that workers increasingly share with robots.

Some priorities remain the same, whether Atlas Copco Industrial Technique is designing tools to be wielded by human hands or robotic arms.

“Throughout the years we’ve done huge amounts of research and built a lot of knowledge about vibration and other loads, which are harmful for human operators, but it’s also damaging to sensors and technical equipment,” Frida says.

“The work we’re doing today and indeed having been doing for many years will unquestionably have a positive impact on automation.” 

Frida is now leading a research project at the University of Windsor in Canada that will study cognitive ergonomics with a focus on the cognitive load placed on operators while performing manufacturing work tasks.

Cognitive load relates to the amount of information a person can handle at any time while using their working memory. It affects perceptions among operators of how complicated it is to use certain tools, or to perform certain tasks.

The University of Windsor project will move through several phases, the first of which entails forming a process to measure cognitive loads on operators by tracking blink rates and pupil dilation.

By agreeing how to measure cognitive load, tool concepts can be compared with greater accuracy, Frida says. 

“If someone needs to remember several work steps and is overloaded with sensory inputs or information, they might miss or forget something really important," she continues.

Designing the ergonomic aspects of tools is a thorough process that involves initial user interviews and observations to create concepts, which are then evaluated by operators.

The designs are then tweaked based on operator feedback, before the process is repeated to create the optimal product – one that makes a tool feel as if it’s an extension of the body. 

Automation is unlikely to change this, Frida says, because robots are still best utilized for less complex, highly repetitive or harmful tasks, rather than intricate processes better suited to humans, which have an exceptional ability to adapt to any situation that arises.

“Manufacturing will become increasingly diverse, ranging from feeding material to a fully automated process that will create the end product, right up to human operators doing all or most of the work,” she concludes.