FW-HTF-P: Collaborative Research: Wearable Safety and Health Assistive Robot Collaboration for Skilled Construction Workers

本次FW-HTF规划项目的研究目标是打造一支协同团队，为熟练建筑工人开发和部署可穿戴安全健康辅助机器人提供共生解决方案。目前，建筑工人在危险的工作环境中承受着剧烈的体力劳动和严重的安全和健康风险。因此，建筑业成为美国风险最高的私营部门之一。熟练工人的短缺给建筑业带来了额外的挑战和压力，以提高工人的安全和健康。可穿戴机器人技术在预防与工作相关的肌肉骨骼疾病、评估和帮助体力和疲劳以及学习和培训建筑行业工人技能方面具有广阔的潜力。该项目将为熟练的建筑工人开发和部署个性化可穿戴辅助机器人协作。研究人员还将开发一系列综合研究和教育项目，以吸引来自代表性不足群体的学生进入工程学，并让本科生参与研究。尽管机器人技术越来越多地应用于建筑应用，但大多数人专注于使用机器人来帮助执行建筑任务，很少有人讨论使用工业外骨骼来改善工人的安全和健康。在这个规划项目中，研究人员团队计划建立一个协同团队，并确定潜在的主题和共生解决方案，以实现上述研究目标。具体地说，该项目将侧重于：(1)为建筑工人开发轻便、灵活、高性能、个性化的可穿戴外骨骼；(2)开发基于机器学习的建筑人类技能建模和培训；(3)启动新的跨学科合作，促进与行业合作伙伴和利益攸关方的参与。拟议的机器人开发和试点研究将深入了解将机器人技术纳入现有工作社会技术生态系统所面临的技术和社会经济挑战。规划补助金还将研究人类工作的重大转变对个人、组织和行业的影响，重点是建筑工程。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，以在FW-HTF全面研究计划的层面上扩大研究未来技术、未来工人和未来工作的机会。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 research objective of this FW-HTF planning project is to build a synergistic team and provide symbiotic solutions to develop and deploy wearable safety and health assistive robots for skilled construction workers. Currently, construction workers suffer intense physical effort, and serious safety and health risk in hazardous working environments. As a result, construction industry becomes one of the highest-risk private sectors in the US. Shortage of skilled workers brings additional challenges and pressures to construction industry to improve workers' safety and health. Wearable robotic technology provides promising potentials to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders, assess and assist physical and fatigue, and learn and train worker skills in construction trades. The project will enable the development and deployment of personalized wearable assistive robot collaboration for skilled construction workers. The researchers will also develop a number of integrated research and education programs to attract students from underrepresented groups into engineering and involve undergraduate students into research.Although robotics technologies have been increasingly used in construction applications, most focus on the use of robots to help conduct construction tasks and few discusses the use of industrial exoskeletons for improving workers' safety and health. In this planning project, the team of researchers plan to build a synergistic team and identify potential topics and symbiotic solutions to achieve the above research goal. Specifically, this project will emphasize on: (1) develop light-weight, flexible, high-performance, personalized wearable exoskeletons for construction workers; (2) develop machine learning-based human skill modeling and training in construction, and (3) initiate new cross-disciplinary collaboration and foster engagement with industry partners and stakeholders. The proposed robotic development and pilot study will provide deep understanding of technical and socio-economic challenges for integrating robotic technologies into existing socio-technical ecosystems of work. The planning grant will also study the effects of the significant shifts in human work on individual, organization and industries with a focus specifically on construction work. 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.