Abstract
BackgroundUser-centered design approaches have gained attention over the past decade, aiming to tackle the technology acceptance issues of wearable robotic devices to assist, support or augment human capabilities. While there is a consensus that usability is key to user-centered design, dedicated usability evaluation studies are scarce and clear evaluation guidelines are missing. However, the careful consideration and integration of user needs appears to be essential to successfully develop an effective, efficient, and satisfactory human-robot interaction. It is primarily the responsibility of the developer, to ensure that this users involvement takes place throughout the design process.MethodsThrough an online survey for developers of wearable robotics, we wanted to understand how the design and evaluation in actual daily practice compares to what is reported in literature. With a total of 31 questions, we analyzed the most common wearable robotic device applications and their technology maturity, and how these influence usability evaluation practices.ResultsA total of 158 responses from a heterogeneous population were collected and analyzed. The dataset representing contexts of use for augmentation (16.5%), assistance (38.0%), therapy (39.8%), as well as few other specific applications (5.7%), allowed for an insightful analysis of the influence of technology maturity on user involvement and usability evaluation. We identified functionality, ease of use, and performance as the most evaluated usability attributes and could specify which measures are used to assess them. Also, we could underline the frequent use of qualitative measures alongside the expected high prevalence of performance-metrics. In conclusion of the analysis, we derived evaluation recommendations to foster user-centered design and usability evaluation.ConclusionThis analysis might serve as state-of-the-art comparison and recommendation for usability studies in wearable robotics. We believe that by motivating for more balanced, comparable and user-oriented evaluation practices, we may support the wearable robotics field in tackling the technology acceptance limitations.
Highlights
User-centered design approaches have gained attention over the past decade, aiming to tackle the technology acceptance issues of wearable robotic devices to assist, support or augment human capabilities
We report the insights from an online survey sent to developers of Wearable robotic devices (WRD) from academic, industrial, and clinical backgrounds to analyze current practices in usability evaluation, considering contexts of use, technology maturity and methods used for evaluation
The background of the respondents ranged from academia (71.5%) to industry (32.3%) and clinical practice (15.2%), while 28 of the 158 respondents selected more than one background
Summary
User-centered design approaches have gained attention over the past decade, aiming to tackle the technology acceptance issues of wearable robotic devices to assist, support or augment human capabilities. The careful consideration and integration of user needs appears to be essential to successfully develop an effective, efficient, and satisfactory human-robot interaction. It is primarily the responsibility of the developer, to ensure that this users involvement takes place throughout the design process. A solution to tackle and minimize usability limitations is user-centered design (UCD), which aims to involve the technology stakeholders throughout the device development to more successfully address and meet user needs [11,12,13]. While the userperspective remains the key element of WRD usability and technology acceptance [15, 26], it is crucial to understand how the developers of the technology make the decision of when and how to involve end-users in the design process
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
