Xiliu Yang

This paper presents a method for multi-human–robot collaborative timber construction using a head-mounted augmented reality system as the main facilitator. The AR system enables workers to visualise the construction tasks and intervene in otherwise automated robotic processes through task and motion control functions on the AR headset. To validate the method, we invited ten carpenters to participate in a dual-human–robot wall assembly case study. Each pair of workers worked together with a heavy-payload industrial robot, during which pre-planned errors were triggered, prompting them to utilise the AR interface to resolve these errors. The multi-user setup emulated construction environments that involve multiple humans, and the system incorporated real-time and asymmetrical visualisations of the tasks, robot and human partners to support multi-actor collaboration. The study demonstrates the potential of AR in connecting and empowering human workers in semi-automated prefabrication and construction processes. It presents new strategies to supervise, control and adjust otherwise stringent constraints of automated fabrication workflows, enabling experienced workers direct control over robotic motion and multi-actor prefabrication.

Semi-automated timber fabrication tasks demand the expertise and dexterity of human workers in addition to the use of automated robotic systems. In this paper, we introduce a human-robot collaborative system based on Augmented Reality (AR). To assess our approach, we conducted an exploratory user study on a head-mounted display (HMD) interface for task sharing between humans and an industrial robotic platform (N=16). Instead of screen-based interfaces, HMDs allowed users to receive information in-situ, regardless of their location in the workspace and the need to use their hands to handle tools or carry out tasks. We analyzed the resulting open-ended, qualitative user feedback as well as the quantitative user experience data. From the results, we derived challenges to tackle in future implementations and questions that need to be investigated to improve AR-based HRI in fabrication scenarios. The results also suggest that some aspects of human-robot interaction, like communication and trust, are more prominent when implementing a non-dyadic scenario and dealing with larger robots. The study is intended as a prequel to future work into AR-based collaboration between multiple humans and industrial robots.