Understanding Human-Robot Teamwork in the Wild: The Difference between Success and Failure for Mobile Robots in Hospitals

This paper communicates findings from an ethnographic inspired field study of human-robot teamwork in a hospital, a highly significant topic, as the use of robots has expanded significantly in recent years, and they are being increasingly deployed in naturalistic environments, including hospitals, expected to take part in socio-technical practices and collaborate with humans in teams. The field study took place in a Danish hospital where mobile robots were installed to take on courier tasks and identified two primary human-robot teams in the given setting: one team consisting of the hospital’s Technical Manager and the mobile robots and another team consisting of Medical Laboratory Technicians and the mobile robots. The team comprising Medical Laboratory Technicians had a strong dependency on the team encompassing the Technical Manager, in the daily hospital operations. In addition, two main elements affected the teamwork between hospital staff and mobile robots in the given hospital. First, a clear division of responsibility for the robots, including well-defined, simple tasks and instant troubleshooting, was important in ensuring collaborative teamwork. Second, environmental factors were crucial as the hospital setting must be suited for both staff and robots, for the teamwork to succeed. The results were evaluated in comparison to results in a similar, earlier study conducted at another Danish hospital and consequently reveal how a clear division of responsibility for robots and appropriate environmental infrastructure allows for the teamwork between humans and robots to flow satisfactory.