FW-HTF-RM: The Future of Teleoperation in Construction Workplaces

这一人类-技术前沿(FW-HTF)研究项目的未来工作将促进“智能建筑”学科的基础知识。建筑是一个工作领域，当工人被要求同时注意多个感官刺激时，他们经常会与认知“数据过载”问题作斗争。视觉刺激对选择性注意资源提出了很高的要求，这限制了每个附加视觉数据显示的效用。该项目的具体研究目标是开发一种替代方案--一种电触觉警报系统，提醒挖掘机操作员未见埋藏危险的位置/附近。挖掘机操作员在地下公用设施周围工作时面临严重风险，包括损坏公用设施线路的风险，这可能会给社会带来代价高昂的后果，如中断基本服务、重伤甚至死亡。虽然以前减少事故可能性的努力都集中在通过视觉显示向员工提供更多信息上，但这可能会导致认知上的“数据过载”，从而降低工作表现并增加工作压力。此外，工人们往往抵制采用这项新技术。该项目将通过以用户为中心开发一种能够增强挖掘机操作员在建筑工作场所的空间意识和表现的电触觉系统，促进科学进步和国家繁荣。该项目的调查结果对减少对对社会运转至关重要的关键基础设施系统的挖掘破坏具有重要影响。多学科方法将有助于拓宽参与学生的职业发展机会，包括女性和少数族裔学生。该项目将直接让建筑工人参与一系列四项任务，寻求提高挖掘机操作员的空间意识，使用可以提供直观的埋藏危险空间数据的技术。该项目计划采用专有的挖掘机传感器技术来定位地下目标，以及电触觉操作员显示技术来将这些数据传达给工人。第一个任务利用以用户为中心的设计技术来记录任务特征、工作人员角色和需求以及与挖掘工作相关的风险。第二项任务开发了一个远程机器人控制框架，向操作员提供对埋在地下的设施的直观实时反馈，以增强对这些危险的空间意识。第三个是在虚拟现实环境中测试补充反馈系统，而第四个是在真实世界的试验台上测试系统。此外，这项研究承诺为技术采用政策提供一个框架，详细说明将新技术引入新兴社会技术环境的风险和好处，在这些环境中，工人面临着分阶段采用技术以及不同任务和不同工作环境之间接口配置不一致的挑战。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) research project will advance fundamental knowledge in the discipline of "smart construction". Construction is a work domain in which workers often struggle with the cognitive "data overload" problem that emerges when they are required to attend to multiple sensory stimuli at the same time. Visual stimuli place a high demand on selective attentional resources that limit the utility of each additional visual data display. The specific research objective of this project is to develop an alternative - an electrotactile warning system that alerts excavator operators about the location / proximity of unseen buried hazards. Excavator operators face serious risks when working around buried utilities, including the risk of damaging utility lines, which can result in costly consequences to society such as disrupting essential services, serious injuries, and even death. Whereas previous efforts to mitigate the likelihood of an accident have focused on providing additional information to workers via visual displays, this can cause a cognitive "data overload" that can reduce performance and increase stress at work. Further, workers are often resistant to adopting the new technology. This project will promote the progress of science and advance national prosperity through the user-centered development of an electrotactile system capable to augment excavator operator spatial awareness and performance in construction workplaces. The findings from this project have important implications for reducing excavation damage to critical infrastructure systems that are essential for the functioning of society. The multidisciplinary approach will help broaden career development opportunities for participating students, including women and minority students.This project will directly engage construction workers in a set of four tasks that seek to improve the spatial awareness of excavator operators using technology that can provide intuitive spatial data on buried hazards. The project plans proprietary excavator sensor technologies that can localize subterranean targets, as well as electrotactile operator display technologies that can communicate these data to the worker. The first task leverages user-centered design techniques to document task features, worker roles and needs, and risks associated with excavation work. The second task develops a telerobotic control framework that provides intuitive real-time feedback of buried utilities to operators for enhancing spatial awareness of those hazards. The third tests the supplemental feedback system in a virtual reality environment, while the fourth tests the system in real-world testbeds. In addition, the research promises to provide a framework for technology adoption policy, detailing the risks and benefits of introducing new technologies into emerging socio-technological landscapes where workers are challenged by phased adoption of technologies and inconsistencies in interface configurations between different tasks and different work environments.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.