Data in context: How digital transformation can support human reasoning in cyber-physical production systems

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

In traditional production plants, current technologies do not provide sufficient context to support information integration and interpretation. Digital transformation technologies have the potential to support contextualization, but it is unclear how this can be achieved. The present article presents a selection of the psychological literature in four areas relevant to contextualization: Information sampling, information integration, categorization, and causal reasoning. Characteristic biases and limitations of human information processing are discussed. Based on this literature, we derive functional requirements for digital transformation technologies, focusing on the cognitive activities they should support. We then present a selection of technologies that have the potential to foster contextualization. These technologies enable the modelling of system relations, the integration of data from different sources, and the connection of the present situation with historical data. We illustrate how these technologies can support contextual reasoning, and highlight challenges that should be addressed when designing human-machine cooperation in cyber-physical production systems.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number156
JournalFuture Internet
Volume13
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85108717857

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Cognitive psychology, Contextualization, Cyber-physical production systems, Digital transformation, Information modeling, Operator assistance systems