Seven Guidelines for Designing the User Interface in Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) aims to automate rule-based business process tasks by software robots (bots) mimicking human interactions. Despite the partial automation achieved with RPA, humans still need to interact with the bots, which requires appropriate user interfaces. However, existing RPA research has not evaluated RPA from a software-ergonomic perspective so far and no corresponding user interface design guidelines exist. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the usability of RPA bots in industry and to provide user interface design guidelines to bot developers. The results we obtained from 50 questionnaires filled by RPA users indicate that both the input/output and the dialogue interfaces of RPA need to be improved, especially regarding error tolerance, perceptibility, directability of user’s attention, suitability for the task, and availability. Finally, we derive seven guidelines for designing the user interface of RPA bots. Potential improvements include, among others, the quality of error messages, the efforts for error handling, and the monitoring of the current status of the tasks assigned to the bot

Human Management of the Hierarchical System for the Control of Multiple Mobile Robots

In order to take advantage of autonomous robotic systems, and yet ensure successful completion of all feasible tasks, we propose a mediation hierarchy in which an operator can interact at all system levels. Robotic systems are not robust in handling un-modeled events. Reactive behaviors may be able to guide the robot back into a modeled state and to continue. Reasoning systems may simply fail. Once a system has failed it is difficult to re-start the task from the failed state. Rather, the rule base is revised, programs altered, and the task re-tried from the beginning

US Army Weapon Systems Human-Computer Interface (WSHCI) style guide, Version 1

A stated goal of the U.S. Army has been the standardization of the human computer interfaces (HCIS) of its system. Some of the tools being used to accomplish this standardization are HCI design guidelines and style guides. Currently, the Army is employing a number of style guides. While these style guides provide good guidance for the command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) domain, they do not necessarily represent the more unique requirements of the Army`s real time and near-real time (RT/NRT) weapon systems. The Office of the Director of Information for Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (DISC4), in conjunction with the Weapon Systems Technical Architecture Working Group (WSTAWG), recognized this need as part of their activities to revise the Army Technical Architecture (ATA). To address this need, DISC4 tasked the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop an Army weapon systems unique HCI style guide. This document, the U.S. Army Weapon Systems Human-Computer Interface (WSHCI) Style Guide, represents the first version of that style guide. The purpose of this document is to provide HCI design guidance for RT/NRT Army systems across the weapon systems domains of ground, aviation, missile, and soldier systems. Each domain should customize and extend this guidance by developing their domain-specific style guides, which will be used to guide the development of future systems within their domains