Research in the context of a semiconductor factory is a challenging but important endeavor. In our studies we investigated experiences of two different working groups: operators and shift leads. By means of a creative card approach we asked participants to express themselves and explain their viewpoints concerning work in the semiconductor factory. To complement the qualitative results with quantitative data, the results were transferred into follow-up questionnaires. Based on our results, we describe operators' and shift leads' everyday experiences in the semiconductor factory as well as contextual influences on it. Our work contributes towards a better understanding of the semiconductor factory from a worker's point of view, providing a basis to improve workers' daily experiences and foster work performance.

Maintaining machines in semiconductor factories is a challenging task that, so far, is not sufficiently supported by mobile interactive technology. This paper describes the early development of a maintainer support system. Our goal was to develop a user-experience prototype, which consists of a mobile and a situated interface, to support maintenance activities and the coordination between maintainers and shift-leads. The interfaces are meant to reduce the amount of information and to improve awareness for defective equipment. Efforts described in this paper include the development of a conceptual user experience prototype, following an iterative user-centered design approach. Based on the requirements analysis, an initial mock-up of both interfaces was developed and later on discussed with maintainers in a workshop. With an interactive Wizard of Oz (WOz) prototype we examined the cooperative aspect as well as user experience factors (e.g., distraction, trust, usability) in a simulated factory environment.

This paper reports about a User Experience (UX) study on industrial robotic arms in the context of a semiconductor factory cleanroom. The goal was to find out (1) if there is a difference in the UX between robots used over years with a strict security perimeter (robot A) and a newly installed robot without security perimeter (robot B), and (2) if the UX ratings of the new robot change over time. Therefore, a UX questionnaire was developed and handed out to the operators working with these robots. The first survey was conducted one week after the deployment of robot B (n=23), the second survey (n=21) six months later. Thereby, we found that time is crucial for experiencing human-robot interaction. Our results showed an improvement between the first and second measurement of UX regarding robot B. Although robot A was significantly better rated than robot B in terms of usability, general UX, cooperation, and stress, we assume that the differences in UX will decrease gradually with prolonged interaction.

In this paper we report about a methodological approach to cooperatively evaluate the usability of two different teach pendants for teaching a robotic arm. Two case studies were conducted to compare an already established teach pendant with a novel prototype which applies a different interaction paradigm. Involved in these studies were the company which produces the teach pendant (our industrial partner) and two clients of this company (one in the automotive sector, the other one in the injection modeling sector). We describe the cooperation in this project in detail, how the industrial partners were involved, and our approach to enhance the integration of usability studies in the life cycle of their industrial robotic products. Upon conducting these case studies in the industrial context we come to understand bit by bit the interplay of industrial robots in a better way and how we could affect user centered design (UCD) of real life robotic products with our work.

This paper reports on the analysis of video footage of a human-robot study in public place regarding context factors that significantly influence the interaction. Therefore, a coding scheme was developed which was later used to analyze the video footage of the human-robot study. To ensure the validity of the coding, the video footage was coded independently by two students and afterwards the Cohen's Kappa was calculated to ensure the intercoder reliability. This calculation served as a basis for the creation of the first context model which shows factors that influence the interaction. This approach could show that it is possible to extract valid context factors and to create a context model based on video annotation. These factors should then be further tested in lab-based studies to get a better understanding of how they affect the human-robot interaction.

This article reports on the results of a user study that investigates the perceived usability of naïve users conducting two navigation tasks with the HOAP-3 robot. In this user study, the robot was controlled via a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that enabled the users to navigate the robot in the physical environment. The main goal of the user study was to gain insights on the question if users assign usability issues mainly to the robot, the GUI, or both. The participants performed two tasks: (1) navigating the robot through a maze to find the exit, (2) navigating the robot through the maze to find an object. The user study was supplemented by the think aloud technique and the SUS questionnaire to investigate usability aspects. Furthermore, task duration and task completion were measured. The results stress that the users rated the overall usability of the navigation rather positive. They identified usability problems for both, the GUI and the robot itself. The participants made more suggestions for improving the interface than for improvement of the robot. A reflection on the think aloud data revealed, however, three underlying principles (“feeling of distance”, “lack of orientation”, and “lack of control” ) for the usability problems that were independent of the assignment to the GUI and the robot.

This article reports on a user study conducted to asses the credibility of a humanoid robot. The study set-up was based on the Monty Hall Problem. Overall 13 people between the ages of 19 and 84 took part in the study (7 male and 6 female). The experiment was set up as a card-game where the participant had to guess which of the three cards shows a price. At one point of the experiment the robot advised the participant to change his/her mind and choose another card. During the user study the participants had to fill in a questionnaire on their level of certainty about their choice and the credibility of the robot. The results showed a significant correlation between the believability of the robot and the certainty in the decision made. Furthermore, the outcomes showed differences between participants who followed the robot's advise and participants who did not, regarding credibility, certainty of the decision made and the estimation whether the robot was helpful or not.