Artificial intelligence in the workplace

As part of the funded project "PerspektiveArbeit Lausitz (PAL) - Competence Center for Tomorrow's Work in Saxony and Brandenburg", scientists from the Chair of Ergonomics and Industrial Psychology at the BTU developed the Living and Learning Lab. The goal is to research solutions for a human-friendly use of technology, especially in the AI environment for cognitively demanding activities, and to further develop and test prototypes with practical partners.
The scientists around Prof. Dr. Annette Hoppe analyze and evaluate stressful factors in the workplace. Specific recommendations for human-friendly work system design while using AI technologies are intended to solve problems from the practice of the companies involved in the project. "It is often the case that smaller companies do not even have the time to think about this important issue," says the professor. "We are developing systems that, for example, provide transparent decision support for cognitively complex work activities. In practice, the solution options proposed by the AI must be clearly comprehensible in this context so that the human decision-maker can perform a plausibility check and realistic evaluation of the generated proposals. Ultimately, he or she is responsible for the final selection made." The scientists are also working on intelligent real-time recognition of unfavourable postures in the assembly process and on the processing and presentation of unstructured data volumes in line with requirements.
To promote the transfer of results, the Living and Learning Lab is available to interested parties as a demonstration and learning site at the BTU on the central campus. The main target groups are companies in Lusatia affected by structural change, which can obtain information and advice in the Living and Learning Lab. Students also benefit from the current research results in their teaching.

About the Living and Learning Lab

As part of the funding project "PerspektiveArbeit Lausitz (PAL) - Competence Center for Tomorrow's Work in Saxony and Brandenburg", the Living and Learning Lab enables companies in the region to optimize their use of technology. The lab's equipment consists of various measuring devices, a powerful AI computer and the ergonomics lab with all its application possibilities. The partner labs in Mittweida and Zwickau can be visited via a virtual showcase. Partners include, among many others, Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, which is researching AI systems in the production environment, and TSS GmbH Schwarze Pumpe, which sees great potential in AI-supported systems for its fleet route optimization. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) until 2026.
The BTU is being funded with over one million euros.