Prototype stationery holder robot that encourages office workers to maintain a tidy desktop

Abstract

Improving office work efficiency has attracted increasing attention. We describe a tidying up robot that is expected to improve work efficiency. This robot is developed based on human-robot interaction and encourages a user to tidy up their desktop when it is disorderly. First, we explain the concept of the robot and introduce a prototype. We report the results of a preliminary experiment with four participants conducted to evaluate the prototype. The results of a questionnaire completed after the experiment indicate that improvements are required. In addition, we report the results of a preliminary experiment to determine if orderly conditions increase work efficiency. To evaluate work efficiency, we count the number of small deviations (i.e., microslips) that occur in smooth movements for making paper craft. The results show that more microslips occur under disorderly conditions than orderly conditions.