Evaluating Team Fluency in Human-Industrial Robot Collaborative Design Tasks

Abstract

AbstractTrust, reliance, and robustness have been identified as key elements for team fluency between teams. They are also crucial elements for successful collaboration between humans and robots (HRC). Robot arms have become integral to numerous digital design and fabrication processes allowing new material forms, more efficient use of materials and novel geometries. It will not be long before close proximity HRC design becomes standard. However, little research has been directed at understanding team fluency development between industrial robots and humans (industrial HRC). Even less to understand the evolution of HRC in creative tasks and factors that influence elements like trust to be established between industrial robot arms and designers. Team fluency is a multidimensional construct, heavily dependent on the context. It is crucial to understand how team fluency develops when designers interact with industrial robots. To this end, in this study, a team fluency measurement scale suitable for industrial HRC in design activities was developed in two stages. In the first stage, HRC literature was reviewed to establish a measurement scale for the different team fluency constructs and identify team fluency-related themes relevant to the design context. A corresponding pool of questionnaire items was generated. In the second stage, an exploratory HRC design exercise was designed and conducted to collect participant’s opinions qualitatively and quantitative. Questionnaire items were applied to participants. The results were statistically analyzed to identify the key factors impacting team fluency. A set of curriculum recommendations is made, and a team fluency scale is proposed to measure HRC in design activities.KeywordsComputational design researchCaad curriculaComputational literacyEducationMethodologiesRobotic-assisted designRobotic fabricationCooperative systemsHuman-robot interactionMan-machine systems