Abstract
This paper analyzes work activity in the home, e.g., cleaning, performed by two actors, a human and a robot. Nowadays, there are attempts to automate this activity through the use of robots. However, the activity of cleaning, in and of itself, is not important; it is used instrumentally to understand if and how robots can be integrated within current and future homes. The theoretical framework of the paper is based on empirical work collected as part of the Multimodal Elderly Care Systems (MECS) project. The study proposes a framework for the division of work tasks between humans and robots. The framework is anchored within existing research and our empirical findings. Swim-lane diagrams are used to visualize the tasks performed (WHAT), by each of the two actors, to ascertain the tasks’ temporality (WHEN), and their distribution and transitioning from one actor to the other (WHERE). The study presents the framework of various dimensions of work tasks, such as the types of work tasks, but also the temporality and spatiality of tasks, illustrating linear, parallel, sequential, and distributed tasks in a shared or non-shared space. The study’s contribution lies in its foundation for analyzing work tasks that robots integrated into or used in the home may generate for humans, along with their multimodal interactions. Finally, the framework can be used to visualize, plan, and design work tasks for the human and for the robot, respectively, and their work division.
Highlights
This study is an empirical study, which is part of the Multimodal Elderly Care Systems (MECS)project
The research question addressed in this paper is: what are the types of work tasks that are generated by a robot, a semi-autonomous moving entity, in the home?
This paper addresses the following research question: what are the types of work tasks that are generated by a robot, a semi-autonomous moving entity, in the home? This research question was answered by carrying out qualitative research that informed us about different work tasks carried out by the human and by the robot actor
Summary
Within the framework of the MECS project, this paper aims to investigate semi-autonomous robots, as moving entities in the home that change the tasks and routines of the people living there. We found that several previous studies have shown that instrumental use of vacuum cleaner robots is useful to understand the design implications of introducing robots in the homes (see [3,4,5]). It seems that many of the elderly consider cleaning their homes as a work activity that requires a significant amount of physical effort and concentration
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