A Study of Self-Paced and Machine-Paced Inspection

Abstract

A study was conducted to investigate the performance of inspectors under different conditions using computer generated visual test items. The purpose of the study was to compare performance for self-paced vs. machine-paced inspection tasks. The factors considered were searching for a single type of flaw vs. three types of flaws, the viewing time for machine-paced inspection, and the type of instruction for self-paced inspection. The results showed that performance was better when subjects searched for only one type of flaw. Performance improved with increased viewing time, but was not affected by the type of instruction. There was no difference between self-paced and machine-paced inspection provided the viewing time was sufficient. Overall, performance in self-paced inspection was better.