FW-HTF-R: DEMOLISHING BARRIERS TO DEMOCRATIZE FUTURE CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS BY PROVIDING MULTI SENSORY CAPABILITIES FOR EFFECTIVE REMOTE WORK

远程操作（即从操作员视线之外的距离操作机器）是一项新兴的建筑技术，具有许多潜在的好处，例如提高工作场所的安全性和吸引更多样化的劳动力。尽管在实践中越来越多地采用远程操作，但对如何在动态建筑工地有效安全地实施远程操作的理解有限。远程操作将需要建筑工人掌握新的技能，特别是在使用计算机和更复杂的接口来控制机器方面。此外，考虑到建筑工人在传统的建筑环境中几乎不会花时间在电脑前，在实施远程操作时必须考虑对身体和认知健康的影响。该项目旨在填补这一知识空白，重点关注远程操作拆除工作所需的感官信息，并通过研究如何修改感官特征，为不同任务和不同工人（例如女性工人、不同能力的工人、老年工人）促进有效、安全和健康的工作环境，开发一个以工人为中心的验证工作站。项目的主要智力贡献将是开发或选择技术的利益相关者参与方法，该方法将改进目前的实践，即在出现问题或事故之前立即采用新技术。该项目有可能改善施工中的远程操作，并通过减少死亡和严重伤害来提高工作场所的安全性，通过消除长时间通勤或长时间离家来提高工人的生活质量，从而彻底改变该领域。通过将传统上被边缘化的群体纳入建筑业来吸引更多样化的劳动力，并通过允许使用内部劳动力来提高美国建筑公司在国际市场上的竞争力。该项目还将加强研究和教育的基础设施，将研究成果纳入跨学科的课程，并通过出版物、演讲和其他媒体传播研究成果。它还将让代表性不足的学生参与研究，这将通过鼓励这些学生追求科学事业来鼓励科学的多样性。该项目将开发和验证一个用于建筑拆除工作的感官增强远程操作工作站，同时验证一个利益相关者参与的过程，以满足建筑行业内日益多样化的工人、工作场所和工作的新需求。利益相关者参与的过程将通过与咨询小组的持续合作和建筑工人在开发、测试和反馈方面的直接参与来促进。首先，咨询小组将协助确定感官增强工作站所需的功能，以最好地支持现实世界的工作环境和任务（任务1）。顾问小组和拆迁工人将参与开发阶段的感官特征组合和类型的试点测试（任务2），多达90名建筑工人将参加随机试验，以测试原型感官增强工作站与标准工作站（任务3a）。参与者将操作一个拆除机器人，与不同地面条件和坡度的结构和非结构元素进行互动。操作员技能，拆除技能，安全行为和人体工程学因素将被检查。在一项用户体验研究（任务3b）中，将对使用感官增强工作站的用户体验以及在不同类型的拆除任务中适应“恰到好处”的感官反馈进行研究。一系列利益相关者焦点小组将深入了解在建筑工作中实施感官增强远程操作的促进因素、挑战和机遇，以及如何适应以增加建筑劳动力的多样性（任务4）。咨询小组将协助解释试验、用户体验和焦点小组的调查结果，为建筑行业广泛实施远程操作和采用利益相关者参与的过程提供思路，以支持建筑行业的技术实施。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。

Teleoperation (i.e., operating a machine from a distance outside the operator’s line of sight) is an emerging technology in construction that has many potential benefits, such as increasing workplace safety and engaging a more diverse workforce. There is limited understanding of how to implement teleoperation effectively and safely into dynamic construction worksites despite increasing adoption in practice. Teleoperation will require new skills for construction workers, especially regarding the use of computers and more complex interfaces to control the machines. Moreover, given that construction workers spend almost no time in front of a computer in traditional construction settings, impacts on physical and cognitive well-being must be considered when teleoperation is implemented. The project aims to fill this knowledge gap by focusing on what sensory information is required for teleoperated demolition work in construction and by developing a validated worker-centric workstation by examining how sensory features should be modified to promote effective, safe, and healthy work environment for different tasks and diverse workers (e.g., female workers, differently abled workers, older workers). A primary intellectual contribution of the project will be a stakeholder-engagement methodology for developing or selecting technology that will improve upon current practice of adopting new technology out of hand until there is a problem or accident. The project has potential to improve teleoperation in construction and revolutionize the field by increasing workplace safety by reducing fatalities and severe injuries, improving workers’ quality of life by eliminating long commutes or extended stays away from home, engaging a more diverse workforce by inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups in construction and increasing the competitiveness of American construction companies in international markets by allowing operations using an in-house workforce. The project will also enhance the infrastructure for research and education by incorporating findings into the curriculum across multiple disciplines and disseminating findings via publications, presentations, and other media. It will also involve underrepresented students in research, which will encourage diversity in science by encouraging these students to pursue careers in science.The project will develop and validate a sensory-enhanced teleoperation workstation for demolition work in construction, while validating a stakeholder-engaged process for addressing emerging needs of increasingly diverse workers, workplaces, and work within the construction industry. The stakeholder-engaged process will be facilitated by ongoing collaboration with an advisory panel and direct involvement of construction workers in development, testing, and feedback. First, the advisory panel will assist in identifying features required in sensory-enhanced workstation to best support real-world work contexts and tasks (Task 1). The advisory panel and demolition workers will be involved pilot testing combinations and types of sensory features in a development phase (Task 2), and up to 90 construction workers will participate in a randomized trial to test a prototype sensory-enhanced workstation versus a standard workstation (Task 3a). Participants will operate a demolition robot to interact with structural and non-structural elements with different ground conditions and slopes. Operator skills, demolition skills, safety behaviors, and ergonomic factors will be examined. User experience with the sensory-enhanced workstation and adaptations for “just-right” sensory feedback during different types of demolition tasks will be examined in a user experience study (Task 3b). A series of stakeholder focus groups will generate insight into the facilitators, challenges, and opportunities for the implementation of sensory-augmented teleoperation in construction work, as well as how adaptions needed to increase diversity in the construction workforce (Task 4). The advisory panel will assist in interpreting the trial, user experience, and focus group findings to develop ideas for widespread implementation of teleoperation and adoption of the stakeholder-engaged process for the construction industry to support technology implementation in construction.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.