Thesis Opportunity- Evaluating Cognitive Load and Usability in Industrial Robot Guidance Software

What the Master Thesis is about/background to the problem to investigate

Industrial software is often evaluated based on technical performance and functionality. While these aspects are important, successful products must also be easy to learn, efficient to use, and straightforward to demonstrate and explain to customers.

Within industrial robot guidance, different stakeholder groups interact with software in different ways. Application engineers and integrators configure and deploy systems, operators use them in daily production, and sales engineers demonstrate their capabilities to prospective customers. Each group has its own expectations, challenges, and measures of success.

As industrial software becomes increasingly focused on usability and user experience, there is a growing need for methods that can evaluate products from a human perspective in addition to a purely technical one. Factors such as task completion time, error rates, intuitive workflows, cognitive load, and overall user satisfaction may provide valuable insights into how effectively a product supports its users.

This thesis will investigate how usability and cognitive load can be evaluated in industrial robot guidance software. The work may include comparing different software products through representative application setup tasks and identifying factors that influence both user experience and perceived product value.

The master thesis work focuses on the following/example of research questions

• How can usability and cognitive load be measured in industrial engineering software?
• What aspects of a software workflow contribute most to an efficient and intuitive user experience?
• How do users with different backgrounds experience the same robot guidance task?
• Which steps in a system configuration workflow are most prone to confusion, errors, or delays?
• How do different robot guidance software products compare with respect to usability and perceived complexity?
• What relationship exists between usability, customer perception, and commercial value?

Prerequisites

This thesis will involve user studies, data analysis, experimentation, software engineering, and human-computer interaction.

You should have a strong interest in usability, user experience, software development, psychology, human-computer interaction, or industrial systems. Experience with experimental design, statistics, or user-centered design is beneficial.

Contact

For more information about the position, contact:

Fredrik Lindgren, Software Developer, +46 722 26 77 33, fredrik.lindgren@sick.se

We warmly welcome your application — please submit it no later than October 25th.

SICK is a world-leading supplier of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. We’re part of SICK AG — a global leader in sensor technology with 10,000 employees across 50 countries and headquarters in Freiburg, Germany. Together, we build technology that makes industries more efficient, intelligent, and safe.

As a Machine Vision Innovation Center, SICK Linköping develops advanced AI-powered software that drives the future of both manufacturing and logistics automation. Whether it’s helping robots pick the right item or enabling high-precision quality control with 2D and 3D vision, our solutions bring clarity, speed, and smart decision-making to complex industrial environments — all driven by a dedicated team of 100 colleagues.

We are very proud of being a healthy and attractive workplace. We have consistently been recognized as one of the best workplaces in Sweden according to the Great Place to Work survey. We actively work to reduce our climate footprint and engage in various initiatives to contribute to society and enhance diversity at our workplace.