FW-HTF-P: LEAP: Learning, Accelerating, And Empowering Embodied Robot Technology Use Within The Construction Industry

建筑业在美国雇佣了数百万工人，是美国经济的基石。不幸的是，与其他经济部门相比，生产率增长停滞不前，这种停滞通常归因于生产率低、劳动力短缺、劳动力老龄化和高度不相似的任务。尽管这些特性使该行业充满了利用机器人自动化的潜力，但机器人技术与建筑的有效整合尚未发生，这是由建筑任务的高度可变性、建筑过程的最低工业化、技术的可扩展性和适应性方面的挑战以及利益相关者对变革的系统性抵制所驱动的结果。问题是：我们如何以最少的进入壁垒有效地实现这一转变？为了解决这个问题，这个项目，创造了LEAP，研究机器人技术的可接受性。LEAP基于这样一种理念，即工作的未来在于促进技术和工人能力之间的和谐增长，解决创新实施和当前工作分配之间的不一致，从而促进劳动密集型部门自动化的发展。LEAP认为，成功的最佳途径是逐步赋予工人权力，以利用人与技术的伙伴关系。该项目的结果将促进技术提升模型的开发与技术的工程劳动力，一个范围，福尔斯属于NSF大想法的FW-HTF。从设计和管理技术演示中吸取的经验教训可能适用于许多其他工业制造部门。该项目的愿景是促进逐步平稳地过渡到人与技术的合作伙伴关系，将自动化与人类工人结合起来。该项目通过人与技术交互的具体化来研究机器人技术的可接受性，具体化是指对象和（人）代理的身体的耦合，以便可以对环境进行控制。使用探索性（试点）研究，LEAP寻求理解的基础认知机制的体现和他们的影响，接受机器人的建筑工人。LEAP探索了工人的视觉视角和触觉，重点是抑制剂和刺激剂，以改变社会对机器人的态度。这项研究将推进和有利于FW-HTF的开拓性的探索体现在工人的任务，为未来的机器人工人的互动。LEAP将探索对建筑工地操作机器人能力的理解，并为建筑行业的机器人技术接受和合规性建立新的原则。最终，LEAP将增加对工人个体差异的理解，并为个别工人对当前运营的战略变革制定一个变革性框架。该奖项反映了NSF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 construction industry employs millions of workers in the United States and is a cornerstone sector for the US economy. Unfortunately, productivity growth has stagnated compared to other economic sectors, with the stagnation often attributed to low productivity rates, labor shortages, an aging workforce, and highly dissimilar tasks. Although the attributed features make the sector rife with potential to capitalize on robotic automation, the effective integration of robotics into construction has not yet occurred, an outcome-driven by the highly variable nature of construction tasks, minimal industrialization of construction processes, challenges in the scalability and adaptability of technology, and stakeholders’ systematic resistance to change. The question arises: how do we efficiently make this transition with the fewest barriers to entry? To address this question, this project, coined LEAP, studies the acceptability of robot technology. LEAP is based on the idea that the future of work lies in promoting harmonious growth between technology and workers’ capabilities, addressing misalignment between the implementation of innovations and the current allocation of work, thereby fostering the advancement of automation in labor-intensive sectors. LEAP posits that the best path for success is to incrementally empower workers to leverage the human-technology partnership. The project’s results will facilitate the development of upskilling models with technology for the engineering workforce, a scope that falls under NSF Big Idea of FW-HTF. Lessons learned from designing and administering the technology demonstration may apply in many other industrial manufacturing sectors.The project’s vision is to promote a gradual and smooth transition to a human-technology partnership that sees automation integrated alongside human workers. The project studies the acceptability of robot technology through the embodiment of human-technology interactions, embodiment refers to the coupling of an object and a (human) agent’s body such that control can be exerted to operate on the environment. Using an exploratory (pilot) study, LEAP looks for understanding the underlying cognitive mechanisms of embodiment and their effects on acceptance of robotics by construction workers. LEAP explores the worker’s visual perspective and haptic sense with a focus on inhibitors and stimulators to inform changes in social attitudes toward robots. The research will advance and benefit the FW-HTF by pioneering the exploration of embodiment in workers’ tasks for future robot-worker interactions. LEAP will explore the understanding of robotic capabilities for construction site operations and build new principles for robotic-technology acceptance and compliance in the construction industry. Ultimately, LEAP will increase the understanding of the workers’ individual differences and develop a transformative framework for individual workers’ strategic changes to current operations. Results are expected to contribute to the acceleration and growth of robotic-technology use.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.