2015 International Conference on Science in Information Technology (ICSITech)

Kansei Engineering-based Sensor for Agro-Industry

(KESAN) for Measurement and Monitoring of
Worker Performance
Mirwan Ushada (1st Author), Atris Suyantohadi (4th
Author), Nafis Khuriyati (5th Author)

Tsuyoshi Okayama (2nd Author)

Ibaraki University,
College of Agriculture
Ibaraki, Japan Postal Code 300-0393
E-mail: tsu-okay@mx.ibaraki.ac.jp

Universitas Gadjah Mada, Department of Agro-Industrial

Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia Postal Code 55281
E-mail: mirwan_ushada@ugm.ac.id, atris@ugm.ac.id;
nafis.khuriyati@ugm.ac.id

Dzikri Rahadian Fudholi (3rd Author)

Research Assistant/Alumni, Department of Computer Science and Electronics,
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta Indonesia Postal Code 55281,
Email: dzet.fudholi@gmail.com
the proper information from consumer, worker, physics and
social environment.

AbstractThis paper highlighted Kansei Engineering-based

Sensor for Agro-industry, which is abbreviated as KESAN.
KESAN was developed to measure and monitor worker
performance in Agro-industrial Small-Medium sized Enterprises
(SMEs). It was developed using Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
model based on Kansei Engineering approach. The training and
validation data was collected from four types of Foods SMEs in
Special Region of Yogyakarta. ANNs weight is transformed in to
Arduino. There were 12 inputs of KESAN as total mood
disturbance, heart rate, workstations temperature, relative
humidity, lighting and noise, which were measured before and
after working. The worker performance was indicated by LED
signal of green (normal workers), yellow (CCW) and red (OCW).
This research concluded KESAN as a low cost, portable,
practicable and intermediate information technology for SMEs.

Information technology is very important for SMEs. Kossai

and Piget [4] identified the connection between information
access and communication technologies use with the
performance of SMEs. Park [5] concluded that data collection
is important for the efficient running of production systems in
SMEs. Operation managers and workers required accurate and
timely data to improve their productivity [5].

I. INTRODUCTION

Kansei was defined as worker load responsiveness to daily

production rate in a workstation of SMEs. Nagamachi [6], the
founder of Kansei Engineering (KE), has defined Kansei from
Japanese word means the human feeling related to cognitive,
physics and other possible aspects like environment. Kansei
can be measured using verbal and non-verbal responses [6,7].
Worker evaluation in a workstation of SMEs is essential to
optimize the industrial productivity, decreasing the defect rate
and reducing the production time [8].

In Japan, agro-industry is identical with the utilization of

advanced information technology in fresh agricultural
production system [1], for example, smart gardening system
was developed using augmented reality to support gardening
amenities [2]. To support decision about what to plant where,
smart gardening system uses sensors to collect data in the real
world that it then plots in a virtual world [2].

KE was defined as a conceptual method to quantify the

consumer/user/worker/human responsiveness [9,10]. This
definition is adapted and developed based on utilization of KE
to derive the consumer/user/worker/human satisfaction for new
product, service and ergonomic technology [6]. Ushada et al.
[11,12] has used KE for identification of consumer needs in
agro-industrial product design and development.

In Indonesia, small medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a

typical of agro-industry which can compete in ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC). AEC challenged SMEs for
worker performance and professional qualifications.
Framework for SMEs improvement in this community was
described clearly in policy blueprint of 2004-2014 [3]. The
main intention is to encourage the competitive advantage and
sovereignty of ASEAN SMEs based on their capacity to utilize

In other related research, an evaluation system was

identified for worker SMEs based on KE approach, before and
after working condition [8]. It was developed using Artificial
Neural Network (ANN) model based on KE approach [11].
The training and validation data was collected from four types
of Foods SMEs in Special Region of Yogyakarta as Tempe,
Bakpia, Fish chips and Cracker. There were 12 inputs of ANN
model as total mood disturbance, heart rate, workstations
temperature, relative humidity, lighting and noise, which were

Keywordsarduino; artificial neural network; heart rate; total

mood disturbance; workstation environment; worker performance

978-1-4799-8386-5/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

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2015 International Conference on Science in Information Technology (ICSITech)

measured before and after working [11]. The output was
worker performance signal of normal, capacity constrained and
over capacity workers [8,11].
Up to date, there are several sensors or information
technology which are applicable for SMEs. Park [5] has
developed an information technology approach for SMEs using
data acquisition tool. Lanteigne and Laforest [13] has
developed the technical needs of information technology
approach for SMEs using internet support system. Kumari et
al. [14] has developed an information technology for SMEs
based on supply chain support system. None of these sensors or
information technology were available for measuring and
monitoring worker performance in agro-industry.
The research objective is to develop Kansei Engineeringbased Sensor for Agro-Industry (KESAN) for measurement
and monitoring of worker performance. The research
advantage is to support the best performance of SMEs in
challenging AEC. The advantage of KESAN is to support the
owner of SMEs to compete in AEC by managing the
appropriate task of each human resource and controlling
workstation based on environmental ergonomics system.

Fig.1 Arduino Assembly

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

A. Development of KESAN
The data of Kansei worker and workstation environment
was acquired from agro-industrial SMEs in Special Region of
Yogyakarta as Cracker, Fish Chips, Tempe, and Bakpia. An
artificial neural network software was used based on visual
basic programming on macro of MS Excel [15]. The weights of
the ANN were used to construct KESAN in Arduino
programming languange.
Figure 1 indicated the structure of KESAN. It consist of
Arduino, 3 x 4 keypad membran, 16 x 2 LCD Blue BG white
character and source of power (Fig.2). Arduino is an openaccess microcontroller module which can be utilized as a selfbuilt sensor [16]. It is equipped by easy-to-understand
programming languange and hardware platform [16].

Fig. 2. Source of power for KESAN

B. KESAN Serial Mir-1

The initial serial version of KESAN was named as Mir-1.
Figure 3 described the structure of KESAN Mir-1. It utilized
Arduino Uno.

There were 12 inputs of KESAN as total mood disturbance,

heart rate, workstations temperature, relative humidity, lighting
and noise, which were measured before and after working. The
inputs were measured using psychological [17], physiological
[18] and environmental sensing [8].
The worker performance was indicated by LED signal of
green (normal workers), yellow (CCW) and red (OCW). Status
of worker performance was derived using motion study [19]
based on the modification of drum- buffer-rope algorithm in
theory of constraint [7,20].

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2015 International Conference on Science in Information Technology (ICSITech)

Fig. 4 Structure of KESAN serial Mir-2

Fig. 3 Structure of KESAN serial Mir-1

6. Inputting the data of lighting (Lux) which were measured

before and after working

C. KESAN Serial Mir-2

KESAN serial Mir-1 was improved to serial Mir-2 by
installing additional data storage of Secure Data (SD) memory
card (Fig.4). KESAN Mir-2 was developed using Arduino
Mega due to its additional connection to SD memory card.

7. Inputting the data of noise level (db) which were measured

before and after working
8. Executing the decision for worker performance signal of
normal, capacity constrained and over capacity workers
9. Output of decision is displayed in LED lighting for
measurement (KESAN serial Mir-1) and stored in SD card
module for monitoring (KESAN serial Mir-2) of worker
performance

D. Steps for Inputting Data

The steps/procedure for inputting data to the system of
KESAN serial Mir-1 and Mir-2, can be defined as follows:
1. Turn the power on of KESAN
2. Inputting the data score of total mood disturbance which
were measured before and after working

E. Performance Evaluation
The decision of KESAN serial Mir-1 for performance
evaluation is indicated by LED signal of green, yellow and
red. The red LED indicates over capacity worker. The yellow
LED indicates capacity constrained worker. The green lamp
indicated the normal worker. The same decision is stored in SD
module card of KESAN Serial Mir-2. This kind of decision
will help the owner of SMEs to pursue the shift schedulling.
The alternative solutions are by pursuing line balancing based

3. Inputting the data of heart rate (pulse/minutes) which were

measured before and after working
4. Inputting the data of workstations temperature (0C) which
were measured before and after working
5. Inputting the data of relative humidity (%) which were
measured before and after working

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2015 International Conference on Science in Information Technology (ICSITech)

on the performance evaluation. Besides based on the
performance evaluation, owner of SMEs can set environmental
set point for the workplace comfortableness.

Enterprises (SMEs). There were 12 inputs of KESAN as total

mood disturbance, heart rate, workstations temperature, relative
humidity, lighting and noise, which were measured before and
after working. The output was worker performance signal of
normal, capacity constrained and over capacity workers. It was
developed using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model
based on KE approach. The data of Kansei worker and
workstation environment was acquired from agro-industrial
SMEs in Special Region of Yogyakarta. ANNs weight is
transformed in to Arduino.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

KESAN serial Mir-1 was improved to serial Mir-2 by

installing additional data storage of Secure Data (SD) memory
card. Mir-1 can be used to measure the worker performance,
while Mir-2 for evaluation of worker performance. The SD
memory card was intended to store the data of worker
performance periodically from each workstation in to computer
as a database. This research concluded that KESAN is possible
as a low cost, portable, practicable and an intermediate
information technology for workstation in SMEs.
For the future work, a user acceptance test will be pursued
for KESAN. Subsequently, KESAN will be improved to
optimize environmental ergonomics in workstation of SMEs.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig.5 KESAN Mir-1 (Left side) and Mir-2 (Right side)

Firstly, we would like to state our sincere thanks and

acknowledging the financial support in term of Penelitian
Kompetitif Nasional: Kerjasama Luar Negeri dan Publikasi
Internasional-Universitas Gadjah Mada from Directorate
General for Higher Education, Indonesian Ministry of
Education and Culture for 2014 (No.: LPPMUGM/1008/LIT/2014) and 2015 (No.: 310/LPPM/2015).
Secondly, we would like to state our sincere thanks to our
partner of SMEs agro-industry. Finally, we would like to state
our sincere thanks for the support of data acquisition from
students RECAT (Research Collaboration in Agro-industrial
Technology) TIP-FTP-UGM.

KESAN is applicable to be operated on each workstation

in SMEs using serial Mir-1 and Mir-2 (Fig.5). The first step,
the owner of SMEs decides the objective of measurement for
example, for worker performance evaluation, re-position,
promotion and re-engineering. Secondly, the period of
measurement for each workstation is determined for example
five-days working, one week or one months. Each workstation
will consist of one sample of worker.
Thirdly, the input of KESAN could be collected in
entrance of workstation before starting and after finishing the
works. The TMD is collected using self-bulit mood software
POMS [8]. Heart rate is measurable using wrist blood pressure
data logger. Workplace temperature and relative humidity is
measurable using Thermo Recorder (Extech RH520 Data
Logger). Light intensity and noise level are measurable using
Luxmeter and Multifunctional Environment data logger.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

There are two options for owner of SMEs to use KESAN.

Mir-1 was developed as a sensor for discrete measurement and
Mir-2 as a sensor network for continuous measurement. Mir-1
can be used to measure the worker performance, while Mir-2
for evaluation of worker performance. The SD memory card
was intended to store the data of worker performance
periodically from each workstation in to computer as a
database. This research concluded that KESAN is possible as
a low cost, portable, practicable and an intermediate
information technology for workstation in SMEs.

[3]
[4]

[5]
[6]
[7]

IV. CONCLUSSIONS
KESAN was developed to monitor and measure worker
performance in agro-industrial Small-Medium sized

[8]

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