Towards Effective Interface Designs for Collaborative HRI in Manufacturing: Metrics and Measures

We present a comprehensive framework and test methodology for the evaluation of human-machine interfaces (HMI) and human-robot interactions (HRI) in collaborative manufacturing applications. An overview of the challenges that face current- and next-generation collaborative robot systems is presented, specifically focused on the interactions between man and machine, and a series of objectively quantitative and subjectively qualitative metrics are given to guide the development and assessment of interfaces and interactions. A generalized set of guidelines for the design of HMI is also proposed to address these challenges and thereby enable effective and intuitive diagnostics and error corrections when process failures occur. These guidelines are aimed at aiding researchers in developing effective interface and interaction technologies, maximizing operator situation awareness in human-robot collaborative manufacturing teams, promoting effective process and system diagnostics reporting, and enabling faster responses to equipment or application errors.