Enhancing Perceived Safety in Human–Robot Collaborative Construction Using Immersive Virtual Environments

Advances in robotics now permit humans to work collaboratively with robots. However, humans often feel unsafe working alongside robots. Our knowledge of how to help humans overcome this issue is limited by two challenges. One, it is difficult, expensive and time-consuming to prototype robots and set up various work situations needed to conduct studies in this area. Two, we lack strong theoretical models to predict and explain perceived safety and its influence on human–robot work collaboration (HRWC). To address these issues, we introduce the Robot Acceptance Safety Model (RASM) and employ immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to examine perceived safety of working on tasks alongside a robot. Results from a between-subjects experiment done in an IVE show that separation of work areas between robots and humans increases perceived safety by promoting team identification and trust in the robot. In addition, the more participants felt it was safe to work with the robot, the more willing they were to work alongside the robot in the future.University of Michigan Mcubed Grant: Virtual Prototyping of Human-Robot Collaboration in Unstructured Construction EnvironmentsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/1/You et al. forthcoming in AutCon.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/4/You et al. 2018.pdfDescription of You et al. 2018.pdf : Published Versio

Characterization of Long-Term Cultured Murine Submandibular Gland Epithelial Cells.

Human and rat salivary gland cell lines derived from tumors or genetic modification are currently available for research. Here, we attempted to culture and characterize long-term cultured cells spontaneously derived from wild type murine submandibular glands (SGs).SGs were removed from 3-week-old C57B/6J female mice and dissociated by collagenase type 1 and hyaluronidase digestion. Isolated SG epithelial cells were cultured in low calcium, serum-free growth media in the presence of cholera toxin (CT) during early passages. Single-cell colonies were isolated by limiting dilution culture after 25 passages. Early- and late-stage cell cultures were characterized for keratin 14, keratin 18, α-smooth muscle actin, and p63 by immunostaining and quantitative real-time PCR analysis.SG epithelial cells cultured in optimized media maintained their proliferative ability and morphology for over 80 passages. Long-term cultured cells expressed keratin 14, keratin 18, and p63, indicative of an epithelial phenotype.Epithelial cells originating from wild type murine SGs could be cultured for longer periods of time and remain phenotypically similar to ductal basal epithelium

Long-term culture of SG epithelial cells derived from a single cell.

<p>(A) Cell morphology was monitored at P0, P40, and P80. Scale bar = 100 μm. (B) Colony formation was examined in P0 and P80 cells (n = 6). *<i>p</i> < 0.05.</p

Clonogenic growth analysis by limiting dilution culture.

<p>Quantification of cell proliferation by clonogenic assay. Day 0–4 scale bars = 20 μm (×200); Day 7 scale bar = 10 μm (×100).</p

Immunohistochemistry of mouse SG epithelial cells.

<p>Immunohistochemical analysis of keratin 14, keratin 18, p63, and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression in normal SG tissue (SG) and P1 and P80 cell cultures. Scale bars = 10 μm.</p

CT enhanced cell attachment and proliferation specifically in primary cells.

<p>The effect of CT on (A) proliferation, (B) adherence, and (C) PCNA expression in primary (P0) and long-term (P87) cell cultures. *<i>p</i> < 0.05, Scale bars = 10 μm.</p

Effect of cholera toxin (CT) in primary mouse SG epithelial cell cultures.

<p>(A) Effect of CT on SG cell proliferation at day 5. (B) Morphology of the cells described in B. *<i>p</i> < 0.05, Scale bars = 50 μm.</p