Keynote: How to study future human robot interaction in the wild?
11:00 - 12:30 – An Jacobs, Shirley Elprama
This talk will focus on the importance of testing robots outside the lab and conducting field studies “in the wild”. We usually apply a user-centered design approach, in which identifying and involving relevant stakeholders is a crucial step, as well as studying current practices through (contextual) interviews and observation. By discussing past projects, we will share our research experiences following the living lab approach. In the initial stages of the project, this often entailed interviews with professionals and observing them in their workplace. Contexts that we have studied include the operating theatre, a car factory, and a nursing home. In a later stage of the project, we also conducted (field) experiments with end users and collected data through questionnaires. These (iterative) research activities lead to a better understanding of current work practices and enable building and designing robots that meet the needs of (future) end users.
prof. An Jacobs is a professor at VUB, faculty Social Sciences & Solvay Business School and principal investigator at imec. She is also the co-lead of the research unit Ethical co-Design in Digital Innovation (EDDI) and part of the research group imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussels. Her team focuses on research related to the use of technology at work and in healthcare. As a sociologist she focuses on human centered design and evaluation of innovative data driven digital innovations; also e-inclusion, trustworthiness, human oversight, ethics and privacy are key elements. She currently teaches multiple courses including qualitative research methods, users and innovation, digital innovation management and AI and Society.
dr. Shirley A. Elprama is a post-doc at imec-SMIT-VUB and FARI Brussels. Her research focuses on the acceptance of technology at work in industry and in healthcare. Technologies that have been the focus of her research include (social) robots, collaborative robots, and occupational exoskeletons. She obtained her PhD on the acceptance of occupational exoskeletons in 2024 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Before this, she worked as researcher since 2011 at imec-SMIT-VUB. She has a master in Human-Technology Interaction from Eindoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.
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