FW-HTF-P: Investigating Acceptability in the Workforce of Collaborative Robots that Provide and Request Assistance on an As-Needed Basis

该项目的目标是调查社会对协作机器人助手的接受程度，根据需要，在制造和仓储工人中解决对工作场所机器人的恐惧。该项目调查了机器人助手在确保安全的同时，试图保持独立性、认可工人的贡献和情感健康的感知。这是通过人工智能（AI）来实现的，人工智能使机器人能够在必要时（即根据需要）干预帮助同时进行物理交互，例如举起物体。这项工作有可能重振北美农村地区的制造业，那里普遍担心机器人会取代人类的工作。研究小组将广泛参与发展与圣劳伦斯县工业发展局的联系，旨在支持北部地区的小企业。通过这些联系，研究小组将与当地工人和管理人员合作，了解机器人在工作场所的看法。他们还将展示拟议的人工智能技术，该技术仅在必要时提供帮助，以在确保安全的同时保持工人的独立性和工作保障。该项目将涉及机器人、组织心理学和物理治疗的研究人员，并为北部国家地区技术机会有限的2年制和4年制大学的学生提供多学科研究和课程机会。作为这项规划赠款的一部分，将实现两个目标。首先，研究人员将通过与贡献和使用工作场所人工智能的公司建立伙伴关系，并组织一次关于社会可接受的工作场所机器人的大规模关注的研讨会，加强在社会可接受的机器人领域的合作。其次，将创建一个新的原型人工智能系统，通过多视角、多模态传感器捕获参与举起不同尺寸、质量和质量分布的纸箱的受试者，自动预测需要帮助。研究小组将通过从劳动力中招募人类参与者，研究人工智能系统在预测援助需求方面的有效性。规划阶段将通过对辅助算法的智能需求的贡献，以及对工作场所机器人辅助预测器的社会可接受性的评估，推进未来技术和未来工人的知识。通过研讨会的讨论预计将在多个方面贡献新的思路：(a)为工作场所机器人设计人工智能算法，这些算法考虑到大规模的问题，例如确保多个级别的大型员工群体的情绪健康和工作安全；(b)从多个利益相关者（如工人、管理人员、企业主和最终用户）的角度平衡对安全与独立性的看法；(c)人口、地理和社会经济因素的影响；(d)不同程度的机器人自治的长期经济影响。该项目的最终目标是发展必要的研究人员、研究基础设施和基础工作，以扩大在FW-HTF全面研究计划的水平上研究未来技术、未来工人和未来工作的机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 goal of this project is to investigate the social acceptability of collaborative robotic assistants, as-needed, amongst human workers in manufacturing and warehousing to address fear of workplace robots. The project investigates the perception of robotic assistants that attempt to preserve independence, recognition of worker contribution, and emotional well-being, while ensuring safety. This is done by contributing artificial intelligence (AI) that enables robots to intervene for assistance in simultaneous physical interactions such as object lifting only when necessary, i.e., on an as-needed basis. The work has the potential to revitalize manufacturing in rural North America, where fear of robots taking over human jobs is prevalent. The research team will be extensively involved in developing connections with the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, targeted toward supporting small businesses in the North Country Area. Through these connections, the research team will collaborate with local workers and managers to understand perceptions of robotics in the workplace. They will also provide demonstrations of proposed AI technology that provides assistance only when necessary, in order to preserve worker independence and job security while ensuring safety. The project will involve researchers at the confluence of robotics, organizational psychology, and physical therapy, and provide multi-disciplinary research and curricular opportunities to students from 2-year and 4-year colleges with limited technological opportunities in the North Country region.As part of this planning grant, two objectives will be accomplished. First, the researchers will engage in strengthening collaborations in the area of socially acceptable robotics by forging partnerships with companies contributing and using work-place AI, and by organizing a workshop on large-scale concerns for socially acceptable workplace robotics. Second, a novel prototype AI system will be created that automatically predicts need for assistance from multi-viewpoint, multi-modal sensor captures of subjects participating in attempts to lift cartons of varying sizes, masses, and mass distributions. The research team will conduct studies on the effectiveness of the AI system in predicting assistance need by recruiting human participants from the workforce. The planning phase will advance knowledge in future technology and future workers through the contribution of the intelligent need for assistance algorithms, and the assessment of social acceptability of assistance predictors for workplace robotics. Discussions through the workshop are expected to contribute novel lines of thought on multiple fronts: (a) design of AI algorithms for workplace robots that are mindful of large-scale concerns such as assurance of emotional well-being and job-security of large employee groups across several levels; (b) balancing perceptions of safety versus independence from viewpoints of multiple stakeholders, e.g., workers, managers, business owners, and end-users; (c) effect of demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic factors; and (d) long-term economic impact of varying levels of robot autonomy. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop the necessary research personnel, research infrastructure, and foundational work to expand the opportunities for studying future technology, future workers, and future work at the level of a FW-HTF full research proposal.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.