Addressing Usability Issues: Redesigning the User Interface of Collaborative Robot Franka Panda
Emad, Md Abdur Rahman (2021)
2021
Master's Programme in Human-Technology Interaction
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-05-18
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105044454
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105044454
Tiivistelmä
The use of collaborative robots (cobot) is soaring in different industries, especially for manufacturing and logistics purpose. Cobots are helping their human co-workers in doing repetitive, complex, dangerous, and laborious tasks. Before using those cobots, industry workers need adequate training since handling those complex machines demands a synchronization between their hardware and robotic user interface.
In this thesis, the cobot we used is the research version of Franka Panda. The primary users of this particular version of cobot are the students, teachers and researchers who work in the field of robotics. It is observed that the users of this cobot struggle to operate it because they start using it after a short introduction. Most importantly, the root cause of their struggle is the robotic user interface of Franka Panda, which is not intuitive enough and does not provide instructions following which users can proceed ahead with their tasks.
In this research, we followed a mixed approach of two similar methods, design thinking and human-centered design, to extract the best out of them. Utilizing the method observation, our study begins with searching for the usability issues users face when using the robotic user interface of Franka Panda. Afterwards, the issues an advanced user of this robot faces are revealed in the individual expert review sessions. In total, seven users (including the writer of this thesis) took part in the sessions of observation and individual expert review; we name this stage of our research as pre-study. Report prepared from the pre-study of this research compiles the usability issues related to Franka Panda’s robotic user interface. Along with determining the frequency of unique usability problems in the pre-study, we implemented the methods severity rating (introduced by Nielsen) and human-robot interaction heuristics (developed by Clarkson and Arkin) to categorize and rank the usability issues.
Next, in the redesigning stage, we figured out the solutions to the usability issues of Franka Panda's old robotic user interface and prepared some new features for implementation. The tool we used for preparing the wireframes and designing the high-fidelity prototype is Figma. Before putting the solutions and features in the new robotic user interface of Franka Panda, we made sure that they comply with the design guidelines we prepared from the literature review part of this research.
Finally, the new interface of Franka Panda got evaluated by ten users in a simulated environment. Every participant highly praised the new interface after checking out both the new and old ones. In the scales of user experience questionnaire, system usability, and the time users took to evaluate the user interfaces, the new one outperforms the old one in terms of attractiveness and usability. From the evaluation sessions, users’ feedbacks, and suggestions towards the new robotic user interface of Franka Panda provides many clues which can come helpful to enhance our design in future iterations.
In this thesis, the cobot we used is the research version of Franka Panda. The primary users of this particular version of cobot are the students, teachers and researchers who work in the field of robotics. It is observed that the users of this cobot struggle to operate it because they start using it after a short introduction. Most importantly, the root cause of their struggle is the robotic user interface of Franka Panda, which is not intuitive enough and does not provide instructions following which users can proceed ahead with their tasks.
In this research, we followed a mixed approach of two similar methods, design thinking and human-centered design, to extract the best out of them. Utilizing the method observation, our study begins with searching for the usability issues users face when using the robotic user interface of Franka Panda. Afterwards, the issues an advanced user of this robot faces are revealed in the individual expert review sessions. In total, seven users (including the writer of this thesis) took part in the sessions of observation and individual expert review; we name this stage of our research as pre-study. Report prepared from the pre-study of this research compiles the usability issues related to Franka Panda’s robotic user interface. Along with determining the frequency of unique usability problems in the pre-study, we implemented the methods severity rating (introduced by Nielsen) and human-robot interaction heuristics (developed by Clarkson and Arkin) to categorize and rank the usability issues.
Next, in the redesigning stage, we figured out the solutions to the usability issues of Franka Panda's old robotic user interface and prepared some new features for implementation. The tool we used for preparing the wireframes and designing the high-fidelity prototype is Figma. Before putting the solutions and features in the new robotic user interface of Franka Panda, we made sure that they comply with the design guidelines we prepared from the literature review part of this research.
Finally, the new interface of Franka Panda got evaluated by ten users in a simulated environment. Every participant highly praised the new interface after checking out both the new and old ones. In the scales of user experience questionnaire, system usability, and the time users took to evaluate the user interfaces, the new one outperforms the old one in terms of attractiveness and usability. From the evaluation sessions, users’ feedbacks, and suggestions towards the new robotic user interface of Franka Panda provides many clues which can come helpful to enhance our design in future iterations.