TY - JOUR
T1 - Interdependence Analysis in collaborative robot applications from a joint cognitive functional perspective
AU - Adriaensen, Arie
AU - Berx, Nicole
AU - Pintelon, Liliane
AU - Costantino, Francesco
AU - Di Gravio, Giulio
AU - Patriarca, Riccardo
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This paper sets up a framework to assess co-agency in human-robot interactions, and applies it specifically to the socio-technical safety analysis of collaborative robots. We also examine to what extent the concept of Situation Awareness can be applied to assess collaborative robots as efficient team members in socio-technical systems. We explain some theoretical concerns with traditional concepts of Situation Awareness and defend why the concept of Joint Cognitive Systems, which maps the conceptualization of the cognitive system onto the work system as a whole, is best suited for issues of distributed cognition and controllability in human-robot interaction. Thereafter we present a five-step methodology specifically conceived for cobot applications serving the aim of goal coordination between multiple agents by functional interactions. The proposed framework merges two existing safety and resilience analysis methods, being the Functional Resonance Analysis Method and Interdependence Analysis. These methods are used in combination to assess shared control in safe and efficient human-robot interaction from a systems-thinking perspective. This allows to describe the systemic conditions for Distributed Situation Awareness in terms of observable system interactions and as an emergent object of distributed cognition. Instead of looking at undesirable safety outcomes, we have imposed the focus of co-agency as the unit of analysis in line with the Joint Cognitive Systems perspective. The theoretical insights from this paper are additionally applied to a hypothetical but credible demonstration case study with collaborative warehouse robots.
AB - This paper sets up a framework to assess co-agency in human-robot interactions, and applies it specifically to the socio-technical safety analysis of collaborative robots. We also examine to what extent the concept of Situation Awareness can be applied to assess collaborative robots as efficient team members in socio-technical systems. We explain some theoretical concerns with traditional concepts of Situation Awareness and defend why the concept of Joint Cognitive Systems, which maps the conceptualization of the cognitive system onto the work system as a whole, is best suited for issues of distributed cognition and controllability in human-robot interaction. Thereafter we present a five-step methodology specifically conceived for cobot applications serving the aim of goal coordination between multiple agents by functional interactions. The proposed framework merges two existing safety and resilience analysis methods, being the Functional Resonance Analysis Method and Interdependence Analysis. These methods are used in combination to assess shared control in safe and efficient human-robot interaction from a systems-thinking perspective. This allows to describe the systemic conditions for Distributed Situation Awareness in terms of observable system interactions and as an emergent object of distributed cognition. Instead of looking at undesirable safety outcomes, we have imposed the focus of co-agency as the unit of analysis in line with the Joint Cognitive Systems perspective. The theoretical insights from this paper are additionally applied to a hypothetical but credible demonstration case study with collaborative warehouse robots.
KW - Cobots
KW - Collaborative robots
KW - FRAM
KW - Interdependence Analysis
KW - JCS
KW - Situation awareness
KW - Socio-technical analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132222830&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ergon.2022.103320
DO - 10.1016/j.ergon.2022.103320
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85132222830
SN - 0169-8141
VL - 90
JO - International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
JF - International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
M1 - 103320
ER -