Robotic assisted design workflows: a study of key human factors influencing team fluency in human-robot collaborative design processes

Abstract

This paper presents the initial results and analysis of key human elements towards the development of human-robot collaboration (HRC) in architectural design workflows. Key team fluency elements such as trust, reliance and robustness for successful human-robot teams are identified to analyse the development of team fluency in the context of non-expert-designers interacting with robots. A design process is then described based on feedback, and phase-changing materials that encourages HRC during the genesis of the design. Two stages of development are presented. In stage one, an exploratory study was conducted to collect designers’ opinions quantitatively and qualitatively. The results were analysed leading to the identification of primary parameters that affect HRC in design processes. In the second stage, machine learning is used to enhance the collaborative characteristics of the robotic partner. The results reveal insights to human perceptions of robotic collaboration, and explore neural-network-based feedback to enable expanded HRC and communication.