FW-HTF-R: DEMOLISHING BARRIERS TO DEMOCRATIZE FUTURE CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS BY PROVIDING MULTI SENSORY CAPABILITIES FOR EFFECTIVE REMOTE WORK

FW-HTF-R：通过提供有效远程工作的多感官功能，消除未来施工作业民主化的障碍

• 批准号: 2222572
• 负责人: Burcin Becerik-Gerber
• 金额: $ 180万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222572&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: FW; HTF; DEMOLISHING; BARRIERS; DEMOCRATIZE

Teleoperation (i.e., operating a machine from a distance outside the operator’s line of sight) is an emerging technology in construction that has many potential benefits, such as increasing workplace safety and engaging a more diverse workforce. There is limited understanding of how to implement teleoperation effectively and safely into dynamic construction worksites despite increasing adoption in practice. Teleoperation will require new skills for construction workers, especially regarding the use of computers and more complex interfaces to control the machines. Moreover, given that construction workers spend almost no time in front of a computer in traditional construction settings, impacts on physical and cognitive well-being must be considered when teleoperation is implemented. The project aims to fill this knowledge gap by focusing on what sensory information is required for teleoperated demolition work in construction and by developing a validated worker-centric workstation by examining how sensory features should be modified to promote effective, safe, and healthy work environment for different tasks and diverse workers (e.g., female workers, differently abled workers, older workers). A primary intellectual contribution of the project will be a stakeholder-engagement methodology for developing or selecting technology that will improve upon current practice of adopting new technology out of hand until there is a problem or accident. The project has potential to improve teleoperation in construction and revolutionize the field by increasing workplace safety by reducing fatalities and severe injuries, improving workers’ quality of life by eliminating long commutes or extended stays away from home, engaging a more diverse workforce by inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups in construction and increasing the competitiveness of American construction companies in international markets by allowing operations using an in-house workforce. The project will also enhance the infrastructure for research and education by incorporating findings into the curriculum across multiple disciplines and disseminating findings via publications, presentations, and other media. It will also involve underrepresented students in research, which will encourage diversity in science by encouraging these students to pursue careers in science.The project will develop and validate a sensory-enhanced teleoperation workstation for demolition work in construction, while validating a stakeholder-engaged process for addressing emerging needs of increasingly diverse workers, workplaces, and work within the construction industry. The stakeholder-engaged process will be facilitated by ongoing collaboration with an advisory panel and direct involvement of construction workers in development, testing, and feedback. First, the advisory panel will assist in identifying features required in sensory-enhanced workstation to best support real-world work contexts and tasks (Task 1). The advisory panel and demolition workers will be involved pilot testing combinations and types of sensory features in a development phase (Task 2), and up to 90 construction workers will participate in a randomized trial to test a prototype sensory-enhanced workstation versus a standard workstation (Task 3a). Participants will operate a demolition robot to interact with structural and non-structural elements with different ground conditions and slopes. Operator skills, demolition skills, safety behaviors, and ergonomic factors will be examined. User experience with the sensory-enhanced workstation and adaptations for “just-right” sensory feedback during different types of demolition tasks will be examined in a user experience study (Task 3b). A series of stakeholder focus groups will generate insight into the facilitators, challenges, and opportunities for the implementation of sensory-augmented teleoperation in construction work, as well as how adaptions needed to increase diversity in the construction workforce (Task 4). The advisory panel will assist in interpreting the trial, user experience, and focus group findings to develop ideas for widespread implementation of teleoperation and adoption of the stakeholder-engaged process for the construction industry to support technology implementation in construction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

远程操作（即从操作员视线之外的远处操作机器）是建筑领域的一项新兴技术，具有许多潜在的好处，例如提高工作场所安全性和吸引更多样化的劳动力。人们对如何实施远程操作的了解有限。尽管在实践中越来越多地采用远程操作，但安全有效地进入动态建筑工地仍需要建筑工人掌握新技能，特别是在使用计算机和更复杂的界面来控制机器方面，此外，考虑到建筑工人几乎不花时间在面前。传统的计算机在实施远程操作时，必须考虑施工环境对身体和认知健康的影响，该项目旨在通过关注建筑中远程操作拆除工作所需的感官信息并开发经过验证的以工人为中心的工作站来填补这一知识空白。通过研究如何改变感官特征，以促进不同任务和不同工人（例如女性工人、不同能力的工人、老年工人）的有效、安全和健康的工作环境，该项目的主要智力贡献将是利益相关者。开发参与方法或选择能够改进当前采用新技术的做法的技术，直到出现问题或事故为止。该项目有潜力改善施工中的远程操作，并通过减少死亡和严重伤害来提高工作场所安全性，提高工人的水平，从而彻底改变该领域。通过消除长途通勤或长时间远离家乡来提高生活质量，通过将传统上被边缘化的群体纳入建筑业来吸引更加多元化的劳动力，并通过允许使用内部劳动力项目来提高美国建筑公司在国际市场上的竞争力。还将加强研究和教育基础设施将研究结果纳入跨学科的课程中，并通过出版物、演示文稿和其他媒体传播研究结果。它还将让代表性不足的学生参与研究，这将通过鼓励这些学生从事科学事业来鼓励科学的多样性。该项目将发展和发展。验证用于建筑拆除工作的传感增强型远程操作工作站，同时验证利益相关者参与的流程，以满足建筑行业日益多样化的工人、工作场所和工作的新需求。与顾问小组的持续合作以及建筑工人直接参与开发、测试和反馈首先，顾问小组将协助确定感官增强工作站所需的功能，以最好地支持现实世界的工作环境和任务（任务 1）。顾问小组和拆除工人将在开发阶段（任务 2）参与试点测试感官功能的组合和类型，最多 90 名建筑工人将参加一项随机试验，以测试原型感官增强工作站与标准工作站（任务 3a）。参与者将操作拆除机器人，与不同地面条件和坡度的结构和非结构元素进行交互，通过感官增强来检查操作员技能、拆除技能、安全行为和人体工程学因素。用户体验研究（任务 3b）将检查工作站和不同类型拆除任务期间“恰到好处”的感官反馈的适应性。一系列利益相关者焦点小组将深入了解拆除任务。在建筑工程中实施感知增强远程操作的促进者、挑战和机遇，以及如何进行调整以增加建筑劳动力的多样性（任务 4）。焦点小组的调查结果旨在制定广泛实施远程操作的想法，并在建筑行业采用利益相关者参与的流程，以支持建筑中的技术实施。该奖项授予 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。