Social Robot Co-Design Canvases: A Participatory Design Framework

Design teams of social robots are often multidisciplinary, due to the broad knowledge from different scientific domains needed to develop such complex technology. However, tools to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration are scarce. We introduce a framework for the participatory design of social robots and corresponding canvas tool for participatory design. The canvases can be applied in different parts of the design process to facilitate collaboration between experts of different fields, as well as to incorporate prospective users of the robot into the design process. We investigate the usability of the proposed canvases with two social robot design case studies: a robot that played games online with teenage users and a librarian robot that guided users at a public library. We observe through participants’ feedback that the canvases have the advantages of (1) providing structure, clarity, and a clear process to the design; (2) encouraging designers and users to share their viewpoints to progress toward a shared one; and (3) providing an educational and enjoyable design experience for the teams.

Impact of Anthropomorphic Robot Design on Trust and Attention in Industrial Human-Robot Interaction

The application of anthropomorphic features to robots is generally considered beneficial for human-robot interaction (HRI ). Although previous research has mainly focused on social robots, the phenomenon gains increasing attention in industrial human-Robot interaction as well. In this study, the impact of anthropomorphic design of a collaborative industrial robot on the dynamics of trust and visual attention allocation was examined. Participants interacted with a robot, which was either anthropomorphically or non-anthropomorphically designed. Unexpectedly, attribute-based trust measures revealed no beneficial effect of anthropomorphism but even a negative impact on the perceived reliability of the robot. Trust behavior was not significantly affected by an anthropomorphic robot design during faultless interactions, but showed a relatively steeper decrease after participants experienced a failure of the robot. With regard to attention allocation, the study clearly reveals a distracting effect of anthropomorphic robot design. The results emphasize that anthropomorphism might not be an appropriate feature in industrial HRI as it not only failed to reveal positive effects on trust, but distracted participants from relevant task areas which might be a significant drawback with regard to occupational safety in HRI.

A Study on the Mechanism of Social Robot Attitude Formation through Consumer Gaze Analysis: Focusing on the Robot Face

This study intends to utilize eye tracking for the appearance of a robot, which is one of the trends in social robot design research. We suggest a research model with the entire stage from the consumer gaze response to the perceived consumer beliefs and further their attitudes toward social robots. Specifically, the eye tracking indicators used in this study are Fixation, First Visit, Total Viewed Stay Time, and Number of Revisits. Also, Areas of Interest are selected to the face, eyes, lips, and full-body of a social robot. In the first relationship, we check which element of the social robot design the consumer’s gaze stays on, and how the gaze on each element affects consumer beliefs. The consumer beliefs are considered as the social robot’s emotional expression, humanness, and facial prominence. Second, we explore whether the formation of consumer attitudes is possible through two major channels. One is the path that the consumer beliefs formed through the gaze influence their attitude, and the other is the path that the consumer gaze response directly influences the attitude. This study made a theoretical contribution in that it finally analysed the path of consumer attitude formation from various angles by linking the gaze tracking reaction and consumer perception. In addition, it is expected to make practical contributions in the suggestion of specific design insights that can be used as a reference for designing social robots.

Multi-Criteria Design Optimization of Delta Robot with Four Degrees of Freedom

A delta robot with three degrees of freedom, having been well studied over the past 40 years, is one of the most popular parallel mechanisms. Nowadays, an urgent task is to study the properties of various modifications of this mechanism. The article considers a delta robot with four degrees of freedom, in which one of the kinematic chains with a parallelogram is divided into two, allowing the output link to have an additional rotational degree of freedom. To maximize the working area and minimize the cost of modification the optimization of the robot design was performed. The problem of maximizing a cubic workspace has been solved.

Overcoming Kinematic Singularities for Motion Control in a Caster Wheeled Omnidirectional Robot

Omnidirectional planar robots are common these days due to their high mobility, for example in human–robot interactions. The motion of such mechanisms is based on specially designed wheels, which may vary when different terrains are considered. The usage of actuated caster wheels (ACW) may enable the usage of regular wheels. Yet, it is known that an ACW robot with three actuated wheels needs to overcome kinematic singularities. This paper introduces the kinematic model for an ACW omni robot. We present a novel method to overcome the kinematic singularities of the mechanism’s Jacobian matrix by performing the time propagation in the mechanism’s configuration space. We show how the implementation of this method enables the estimation of caster wheels’ swivel angles by tracking the plate’s velocity. We present the mechanism’s kinematics and trajectory tracking in real-world experimentation using a novel robot design.

Conceptual Robot Design For The Automated Layout of Building Structures By Integrating QFD And TRIZ

According to the increase in building size and lack of skilled laborers, layout operation has high demands on automation for productivity and quality improvement. With such a background, research has been recently undertaken to develop an automated layout system based on marking robots for structural work in Korea. Although there are several robot-based automation systems under development targeted at interior works, the system for structural work has different functional needs and technical requirements in designing the robots compared with the existing ones. Therefore, this study proposes a conceptual robot design for an automated layout of building structures, based on a systematic design process, by integrating quality function deployment (QFD) and the theory of creative problem solving (TRIZ). With the support of the approach, 11 user requirements and 16 relevant technical characteristics were derived and prioritized, and 15 creative ideas were derived to solve the technical contradictions. The selected design solution improves driving speed by separating driving and marking operations, and the two-wheeled steering drive system with a suspension device allows easier driving control in a narrow and uneven driving environment. The noncontact type of printer head also minimizes the complexity of the device and provides excellent performance in securing marking precision and quality in response to floor conditions. The results of this study will be used for the detailed design of the layout robot system, and the design process can be utilized for designing and evaluating other construction robots and automation systems.

Design and Development of Pipe-inspection robot with vision 360°

A pipe is a most commonly used product in the daily operations of industrial plants. Boiler pipes and inner ribs reduce pollution, allowing industrial plants to be both environmentally friendly and economically efficient. However, if these pipes are damaged, it will cause a huge problem for humans and ecological imbalances. Therefore, an inside inspection of a pipe is most necessary, regular duty being conducted by a surveyor of the plant. Pipe inspection includes checking for cracks, defects, leaks, corrosion and blockages in a region. However, an individual cannot do this inspection due to life-risk impact, and there is a necessity for human intelligence. This proposed robot design helps inspect a portion of the building in less time than the entire vision. In addition, the view can be recorded and easily the damaged or blocked portions of the pipe.