Sarah Luisa Müller

Design of a Robotic Workmate

In the near future, robots and people will work hand in hand. Through technical development, robots will be able to follow social rules, interact and communicate with people and move freely in the environment. The number of these so-called social robots will increase significantly especially in production spaces forming hybrid human-robot-teams. This expected increasing integration of robots in production environments raises questions on how to design an ideal robot for hybrid collaboration. While most of the research focuses on the technical aspects of human-machine interactions, there is still a strong need for research on the psychological and social aspects that influence the cooperation within hybrid teams.

Anthropomorphism in social robotics: empirical results on human–robot interaction in hybrid production workplaces

New forms of artificial intelligence on the one hand and the ubiquitous networking of “everything with everything” on the other hand characterize the fourth industrial revolution. This results in a changed understanding of human–machine interaction, in new models for production, in which man and machine together with virtual agents form hybrid teams. The empirical study “Socializing with robots” aims to gain insight especially into conditions of development and processes of hybrid human–machine teams. In the experiment, human–robot actions and interactions were closely observed in a virtual environment. Robots as partners differed in shape and behavior (reliable or faulty). Participants were instructed to achieve an objective that could only be achieved via close teamwork. This paper unites different aspects from core disciplines of social robotics and psychology contributing to anthropomorphization with the empirical insights of the experiment. It focuses on the psychological effects (e.g. reactions of different personality types) on anthropomorphization and mechanization, taking the inter- and transdisciplinary field of social robotics as a starting point.

Socializing with robots: Human-robot interactions within a virtual environment

Robots are already physically supporting humans within multiple processes, but as a step further, the robots will be able to identify and adapt to any individual strengths and become the flawless co-workers needed. One of the questions is whether in other fields of social robotics, e.g. in ergonomics, existing knowledge about human teams can be transferred into the design of hybrid teams and the shaping of human-computer interactions. These developments serve the appearance of Industry 4.0, which is directly correlated to the modernization of productions that are directly involved in defining the concept of hybrid human-robot-teams. This is a concept paper that describes the investigation whether the appearance of the robot and its accuracy while fulfilling the task influence the stress level of the human, his cooperation behavior and trust towards the robot, and as an overall result the performance of the cooperative work in a complete virtual environment. The participants will be given a task to accomplish with the aid of their virtual robot partner and rely on their features and abilities, they have to act as efficiently as possible, which gives room to investigate the teamwork over various team development stages, stress, trust, and performance. The study will take place in August 2016, where the results will be published shortly afterwards.

Managing interdisciplinary research clusters

The complexity and dynamicity of interdisciplinary research clusters requires an efficient management in order to ensure a good performance. Therefore, this paper presents an iterative regulatory process for managing interdisciplinary research clusters which has been implemented at the two clusters of excellence at RWTH Aachen University. Thereby, an annual evaluation of the cluster performance through a cluster-specific employee survey forms the basis for the derivation and implementation of different measures. By evaluating the performance again, the loop of organizational learning starts anew. As one example of these measures, the colloquia of employees are described in further details because the adaptation and optimization of concepts illustrate the effects of the continuous improvement. Furthermore, the general performance development of the cluster was analyzed to show the comprehensive effects of the regulatory process.

An overview of work analysis instruments for hybrid production workplaces

With increasing technological improvements, production processes are becoming more and more automated. Nevertheless, full automation is improbable in the medium term since human abilities cannot yet be completely replaced. Therefore, it is likely that so-called hybrid human–robot teams will assume the future production. This raises questions regarding the shaping of future production and the effects it will have on the employees, workstations, and the companies as a whole. The project “Work in the Industry of the Future” (ARIZ) addresses the entirely new cooperative relationship between man and technology in the Industry 4.0 and its impact on opportunities for the work force. To derive the requirements and effects of hybrid workplaces, an initial work analysis of existing workplaces with varying levels of technological enhancement (manual workplaces, workplaces with co-existing robots and fully automated workplaces) will be conducted. Multiple standardized work analysis instruments that vary in method, duration, level of analysis, and recorded characteristics already exist. This paper gives an overview of an assortment of these methods that can be used in production.

Subjective Stress in Hybrid Collaboration

Hybrid collaboration between human and machine antagonists is currently discussed as the most likely scenario of future manufacturing within the next 10 years because it considers technological developments and preserves human workplaces at the same time. However, not only technical feasibility plays a role in the design of these future collaborations, but also the psychological and social effects must be considered. This paper analyzes the subjective stress level of humans in dependence of the characteristics of robots (2 × 2 design with either an industrial or a humanoid robot that was performing either reliable or faulty). A virtual experiment has been conducted to simulate a collaborative hybrid task, including a pre- and post-survey to test. Results do not show any effect of condition, but significant effects of time. The results suggest that the experiment has generally been perceived as slightly stressful, but the appearance and behavior of the robot has no effect on the subjective stress level.

Scientific Cooperation Engineering

Scientific Cooperation Engineering researches, fosters and supports scientific cooperation on all hierarchical levels and beyond scientific disciplines as a key resource for innovation in the Cluster of Excellence. State-of-the-art research methods—such as structural equation models, success models, or studies on success factors—that are frequently used in IS research are applied to create profound knowledge and insights in the contribution and optimal realization of scientific inter and trans-disciplinary communication and cooperation. A continuous formative evaluation is used to derive and explore insights into interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation processes from a management perspective. In addition, actor-based empirical studies are carried out to explore critical factors for interdisciplinary cooperation and intercultural diversity management. Based on these results, workflows, physical networking events and tailor-made training programs are created and iteratively optimized towards the cluster’s needs. As Scientific Cooperation Engineering aims to gain empirical and data-driven knowledge, a Scientific Cooperation Portal and a prototypic flowchart application are under development to support workflows and project management. Furthermore, data science methods are currently implemented to recognize synergetic patterns based on bibliometric information and topical proximity, which is analyzed via project terminologies.