This study analysed work activity in a hospital basement where humans and robots interacted and cooperated on logistics tasks. The robots were deployed to automate parts of courier processes and improve the work environment for the hospital’s kitchen staff. Human–robot cooperation was studied through ethnographic fieldwork relating to mobile service robots and hospital kitchen staff. The results highlighted problems arising through the assumption that the ‘plug and play’ service robots could effectively automate work tasks. The analysis revealed the complexity of human–robot interaction in dynamic work settings such as hospitals and identified contradictions between the envisioning and realisation of robots at work, as well as the visible and invisible procedures underpinning human–robot cooperation. Consequently,we emphasise the importance of considering robots as agents of change and draw attention to the new work practices that arise when robots assume the roles of workers in dynamic work settings. ; This study analysed work activity in a hospital basement where humans and robots interacted and cooperated on logistics tasks. The robots were deployed to automate parts of courier processes and improve the work environment for the hospital’s kitchen staff. Human–robot cooperation was studied through ethnographic fieldwork relating to mobile service robots and hospital kitchen staff. The results highlighted problems arising through the assumption that the ‘plug and play’ service robots could effectively automate work tasks. The analysis revealed the complexity of human–robot interaction in dynamic work settings such as hospitals and identified contradictions between the envisioning and realisation of robots at work, as well as the visible and invisible procedures underpinning human–robot cooperation. Consequently,we emphasise the importance of considering robots as agents of change and draw attention to the new work practices that arise when robots assume the roles of workers in dynamic work settings.
Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work
2021-06-28
Tornbjerg , K , Kanstrup , A M , Skov , M B & Rehm , M 2021 , Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work . in DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference : Nowhere and Everywhere . Association for Computing Machinery , Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 381–391. , pp. 381-391 , ACM SIGCHI 2020 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Nowhere and Everywhere , 28/06/2021 . https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462101
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
human-robot cooperation , human-centred computing , computer-supported cooperative work , hospital , hospital staff , service work , robots in the wild , human-robot interaction , automation , robots , Mobile Robots , agents of change , technology , invisible work , Socio-technical factors , Work Environment
DDC: | 629 |
Online Contents | 1998