FW-HTF-P: Workers and Technology Together (WATT)

在这项计划拨款中，美国瓦特项目研究团队将探索自主技术的潜力，以提高有机废物处理行业的效率、生产率、安全性和安全性。有机废物(如食物残渣)排放的甲烷占排放到大气中的温室气体的很大比例，这些温室气体导致地球变暖，进而导致气候变化。目前的有机废物分类和处理方法效率低、危险，主要由缺乏工作保障、生活工资和福利的低工资临时工承担。瓦特项目研究团队开展的研究将为有机废物处理行业未来的社会和技术创新奠定基础，这些创新将提高运营效率，为工人创造工作稳定性、技能培训和向上流动，为人机合作创造机会，并最终减少该行业对气候变化的影响，同时提振工人。瓦特研究团队将通过包括实时、现场观察、焦点小组、调查和与废物行业利益相关者(生产线工人、企业所有者、安全检查员/执法者)采访的跨学科方法，确定社会技术创新，以应对分离、转换为能源、法律框架、在有机废物处理方面采用最佳做法和气候变化分析。研究团队由教师、研究生和本科生以及代表不同学科的主题专家组成(例如，废物管理、制造和机械工程、计算机科学、商业、法律、人类学和艺术与设计)，这是该项目方法的一个组成部分和关键部分，将揭示改善对21世纪社会负责任运行至关重要的行业的整体、跨学科方法。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。

In this planning grant, the WATT project research team will explore the potential for autonomy technologies to improve the efficiency, productivity, safety, and security of the organic waste processing industry. Methane released from organic waste (e.g., food scraps) accounts for a significant percentage of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere that contribute to the warming of the planet, and by extension, climate change. The current methods of sorting and processing organic waste are inefficient, hazardous, and undertaken primarily by low-wage temporary workers who lack job security, living wages and benefits. The research undertaken by the WATT project research team will lay the foundation for future social and technological innovations within the organic waste processing industry that will increase operational efficiency, create job stability, skills training, and upward mobility for workers, create opportunities for human-machine teaming, and ultimately reduce the impact of this industry on climate change while uplifting workers.The WATT research team, through a transdisciplinary approach consisting of real-time, on-site observations, focus groups, surveys, and interviews with waste industry stakeholders (line workers, business owners, safety inspectors/enforcers), will identify socio-technological innovations that will address the challenges with separation, conversion to energy, legal frameworks, adaptation of best practices, and climate change analyses in the context of organic waste processing. The research team consists of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and subject matter experts representing a diverse cross-section of academic disciplines (e.g., waste management, manufacturing and mechanical engineering, computer science, business, law, anthropology, and art and design), an integral and critical piece of the project’s approach, that will reveal holistic, transdisciplinary approaches for improving an industry critical to the responsible functioning of a 21st century society.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.