Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work

Kristina Tornbjerg; Anne Marie Kanstrup; Mikael B. Skov; Matthias Rehm

doi:10.1145/3461778.3462101

Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work

Kristina Tornbjerg, Anne Marie Kanstrup, Mikael B. Skov, Matthias Rehm

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference : Nowhere and Everywhere
Number of pages	11
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication date	28 Jun 2021
Pages	381-391
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450384766
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462101
Publication status	Published - 28 Jun 2021
Event	ACM SIGCHI 2020 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Nowhere and Everywhere - Online Duration: 28 Jun 2021 → 2 Jul 2021 https://dis.acm.org/2021/

Conference

Conference	ACM SIGCHI 2020 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Nowhere and Everywhere
Location	Online
Period	28/06/2021 → 02/07/2021
Internet address	https://dis.acm.org/2021/

Series	Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 381–391.

Keywords

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

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10.1145/3461778.3462101

Open Access ArticleFinal published version, 8.49 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

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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 (pp. 381-391). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462101

Tornbjerg, Kristina ; Kanstrup, Anne Marie ; Skov, Mikael B. et al. / Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work. DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. pp. 381-391 (Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 381–391.).

@inproceedings{2810d8748ed040a6a992cfb08f085f03,

title = "Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work",

abstract = "This study analysed work activity in a hospital basement wherehumans and robots interacted and cooperated on logistics tasks.The robots were deployed to automate parts of courier processesand improve the work environment for the hospital{\textquoteright}s kitchen staff.Human–robot cooperation was studied through ethnographic fieldworkrelating to mobile service robots and hospital kitchen staff.The results highlighted problems arising through the assumptionthat the {\textquoteleft}plug and play{\textquoteright} service robots could effectively automatework tasks. The analysis revealed the complexity of human–robotinteraction in dynamic work settings such as hospitals and identifiedcontradictions between the envisioning and realisation ofrobots at work, as well as the visible and invisible procedures underpinninghuman–robot cooperation. Consequently,we emphasisethe importance of considering robots as agents of change and drawattention to the new work practices that arise when robots assumethe roles of workers in dynamic work settings.",

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author = "Kristina Tornbjerg and Kanstrup, {Anne Marie} and Skov, {Mikael B.} and Matthias Rehm",

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Tornbjerg, K , Kanstrup, AM , Skov, MB & 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

Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work. / Tornbjerg, Kristina ; Kanstrup, Anne Marie ; Skov, Mikael B. et al.
DIS 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference: Nowhere and Everywhere. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. p. 381-391 (Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 381–391.).

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

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Tornbjerg K , Kanstrup AM , Skov MB , Rehm M. 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. 2021. p. 381-391. (Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 381–391.). doi: 10.1145/3461778.3462101

Investigating human-robot cooperation in a hospital environment: Scrutinising visions and actual realisation of mobile robots in service work

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