Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony

Introduction: Wearable I robots such as exoskeletons combine the strength and precision of intelligent machines with the adaptability and creativity of human beings. Exoskeletons are unique in that humans interact with the technologies on both a physical and cognitive level, and as such, involve a c...

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Autores principales: Wilkenfeld, J. Nan, Kim, Sunwook, Upasani, Satyajit, Kirkwood, Gavin Lawrence, Dunbar, Norah E., Srinivasan, Divya
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10602643/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37901167
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2023.1207052
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author Wilkenfeld, J. Nan
Kim, Sunwook
Upasani, Satyajit
Kirkwood, Gavin Lawrence
Dunbar, Norah E.
Srinivasan, Divya
author_facet Wilkenfeld, J. Nan
Kim, Sunwook
Upasani, Satyajit
Kirkwood, Gavin Lawrence
Dunbar, Norah E.
Srinivasan, Divya
author_sort Wilkenfeld, J. Nan
collection PubMed
description Introduction: Wearable I robots such as exoskeletons combine the strength and precision of intelligent machines with the adaptability and creativity of human beings. Exoskeletons are unique in that humans interact with the technologies on both a physical and cognitive level, and as such, involve a complex, interdependent relationship between humans and robots. The aim of this paper was to explore the concepts of agency and adaptation as they relate to human-machine synchrony, as human users learned to operate a complex whole-body powered exoskeleton. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with participants over multiple sessions in which they performed a range of basic functional tasks and simulated industrial tasks using a powered exoskeleton prototype, to understand their expectations of the human-technology partnership, any challenges that arose in their interaction with the device, and what strategies they used to resolve such challenges. Results: Analysis of the data revealed two overarching themes: 1) Participants faced physical, cognitive, and affective challenges to synchronizing with the exoskeleton; and 2) they engaged in sensemaking strategies such as drawing analogies with known prior experiences and anthropomorphized the exoskeleton as a partner entity in order to adapt and address challenges. Discussion: This research is an important first step to understanding how humans make sense of and adapt to a powerful and complex wearable robot with which they must synchronize in order to perform tasks. Implications for our understanding of human and machine agency as well as bidirectional coadaptation principles are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-106026432023-10-27 Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony Wilkenfeld, J. Nan Kim, Sunwook Upasani, Satyajit Kirkwood, Gavin Lawrence Dunbar, Norah E. Srinivasan, Divya Front Robot AI Robotics and AI Introduction: Wearable I robots such as exoskeletons combine the strength and precision of intelligent machines with the adaptability and creativity of human beings. Exoskeletons are unique in that humans interact with the technologies on both a physical and cognitive level, and as such, involve a complex, interdependent relationship between humans and robots. The aim of this paper was to explore the concepts of agency and adaptation as they relate to human-machine synchrony, as human users learned to operate a complex whole-body powered exoskeleton. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with participants over multiple sessions in which they performed a range of basic functional tasks and simulated industrial tasks using a powered exoskeleton prototype, to understand their expectations of the human-technology partnership, any challenges that arose in their interaction with the device, and what strategies they used to resolve such challenges. Results: Analysis of the data revealed two overarching themes: 1) Participants faced physical, cognitive, and affective challenges to synchronizing with the exoskeleton; and 2) they engaged in sensemaking strategies such as drawing analogies with known prior experiences and anthropomorphized the exoskeleton as a partner entity in order to adapt and address challenges. Discussion: This research is an important first step to understanding how humans make sense of and adapt to a powerful and complex wearable robot with which they must synchronize in order to perform tasks. Implications for our understanding of human and machine agency as well as bidirectional coadaptation principles are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC10602643/ /pubmed/37901167 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2023.1207052 Text en Copyright © 2023 Wilkenfeld, Kim, Upasani, Kirkwood, Dunbar and Srinivasan. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Robotics and AI
Wilkenfeld, J. Nan
Kim, Sunwook
Upasani, Satyajit
Kirkwood, Gavin Lawrence
Dunbar, Norah E.
Srinivasan, Divya
Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title_full Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title_fullStr Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title_full_unstemmed Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title_short Sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
title_sort sensemaking, adaptation and agency in human-exoskeleton synchrony
topic Robotics and AI
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10602643/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37901167
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2023.1207052
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