Impact of machine robotisation on the activity of an operator

Abstract

Adapting the robot to the man with whom it interacts with a view to improving working conditions and efficiency is the final objective of our work. In order to achieve this, it is essential to understand man by watching him work and interact with the robot in order to adapt the robot by modifying its interaction mode and its degree of automation. Three research questions are addressed in this article: is human activity influenced by his interaction with the robot? How does he cooperate in case of a blocking event? And is the human perception of the robot altered in these cases? 23 subjects took part in an experiment using a tracking robot in the context of a parcel picking task. Four indicators were constructed from the analysis of the subjects' activity. They quantify the operator's strategy and his cooperation with the robot. The results show that the increase of the assistant's degree of autonomy induced a modification of the leaders' strategy, that the type of cooperation used by the leader is identifiable from the analysis of his activity and that the evolution of the robot's acceptance level is linked to the degree of autonomy of the robot. The level of cooperation of a person with a robot is therefore quantifiable from the observation of his behavior. The real time adaptation of the robot to the person cooperating with it enters the domain of the feasible.