FW-HTF-P: Redesigning the Future of Construction Work by Replicating the Master-Apprentice Learning Model in Human-Robot Worker Teams

建筑业可以从提高生产力、使用现代工作流程、改善利益攸关方之间的关系以及更加关注建筑工人的安全和健康问题中获益匪浅。由于没有这些改善，熟练建筑工人长期短缺，主要是由于劳动力退休以及年轻一代或能力不同的人不愿意从事这类职业。最近，COVID-19疫情的爆发导致严重的经济困难及建筑项目的进度延误，因为建筑工地难以保持社交距离。这些影响进一步强调了对建筑技术的需求，这些技术可以让工人远程执行任务，减少任何时候现场工人的数量，以确保工人的健康和安全。这项规划拨款将支持调查人类-机器人团队改变未来建筑工作的潜力以及未来建筑工人的形象。 预计这些变化将为行业带来新的职业机会和重大利益。该项目团队设想，人类工人将使用技术来教合作机器人远程执行建筑工作任务，从而形成共生的人类-机器人团队，可以在建筑行业中广泛部署。这种方法与当今建筑行业流行的经典师徒职业模式相似。这项研究规划资助的总体目标是通过与一系列利益相关者的接触来探索人类-机器人团队的可行性和潜力。该计划的活动包括：1）向建筑公司代表、现有建筑工人和潜在未来建筑工人（高中生）分发实况调查; 2）建筑公司和工人代表的技术试点演示和反馈; 3）与来自学术界和产业界的专家利益相关者参加的综合研究计划开发研讨会。这些活动将使研究团队为制定一个融合的研究议程奠定基础，该议程将建筑工作的未来重塑为人类-机器人伙伴关系，支持终身学习，知识转移和有效团队合作的自我维持周期。最终，该项目的结果将为在建筑工地上使用协作机器人带来机遇和挑战，而不会取代现有的劳动力或对建筑工作过程产生不利影响。这项规划补助金的成功将为一项重大的研究工作铺平道路，该研究工作将以人为本的方式对待建筑工作的未来，并确保其提高可达性，生活质量，生产力和工作满意度。PI将从工业界和学术界招募多样化的学生和合作伙伴，并在学术和工业场所广泛传播研究成果。 该项目由人类-技术前沿跨部门项目的未来工作资助，旨在推进与人类工作者和谐运作的智能工作技术的设计。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The construction industry could benefit significantly from increased productivity, use of modern work processes, improved relationships among stakeholders, and increased attention to safety and health issues of construction workers. In the absence of these improvements, a chronic shortage of skilled construction workers has developed, largely due to a retiring workforce and the reluctance of younger generations or people of different abilities to pursue such careers. More recently, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious economic difficulties and schedule delays on construction projects, since it is hard to maintain social-distancing on construction sites. These impacts further emphasize the need for construction techniques that can allow workers to perform tasks remotely, decreasing the number of on-site workers at any one time to ensure worker health and safety. This planning grant will support investigation of the potential of human-robot teams to transform future construction work and the profile of future construction workers. It is expected that such changes would result in new career opportunities and significant benefits to the industry. The project team envisions that human workers will use technology to teach co-robots to perform construction work tasks remotely, resulting in symbiotic human-robot teams that can be widely deployed in the construction industry. This approach parallels the classical Master-Apprentice vocational model prevalent in today’s construction industry.The overarching goal of this research planning grant is to explore the feasibility and potential of a human-robot team through engagement with a range of stakeholders. The proposed activities for this planning project include: 1) Fact-finding surveys distributed to representatives of construction firms, current construction workers, and potential future construction workers (high school students); 2) Technology pilot presentation and feedback from representatives of construction firms and workers; and 3) A comprehensive research program development workshop with expert stakeholder participants from academia and industry. These activities will allow the research team to set the foundation for developing a convergent research agenda that reshapes the future of construction work into a human-robot partnership that supports a self-sustaining cycle of lifelong learning, knowledge-transfer, and effective teamwork. Ultimately, the results of this project will inform the opportunities and challenges of incorporating co-robots on construction sites without replacing the current workforce or adversely impacting the construction work process. The success of this planning grant will pave the way for a significant research effort that takes a human-centered approach toward the future of construction work and ensures that it improves accessibility, quality of life, productivity, and job satisfaction. The PIs will recruit a diverse group of students and partners from industry and academia and pursue broad dissemination of the research findings in academic and industry venues. This project has been funded by the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier cross-directorate program to advance design of intelligent work technologies that operate in harmony with human workers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.