Towards social embodied cobots: The integration of an industrial cobot with a social virtual agent

The integration of the physical capabilities of an industrial collaborative robot with a social virtual character may represent a viable solution to enhance the workers' perception of the system as an embodied social entity and increase social engagement and well-being at the workplace. An online study was setup using prerecorded video interactions in order to pilot potential advantages of different embodied configurations of the cobot-avatar system in terms of perceptions of Social Presence, cobot-avatar Unity and Social Role of the system, and explore the relation of these. In particular, two different configurations were explored and compared: the virtual character was displayed either on a tablet strapped onto the base of the cobot or on a large TV screen positioned at the back of the workcell. The results imply that participants showed no clear preference based on the constructs, and both configurations fulfill these basic criteria. In terms of the relations between the constructs, there were strong correlations between perception of Social Presence, Unity and Social Role (Collegiality). This gives a valuable insight into the role of these constructs in the perception of cobots as embodied social entities, and towards building cobots that support well-being at the workplace

Report Usability Test BigBlueButton 2.4

Upon request from the university’s center for digital teaching (virtUOS), students at Osnabrück University tested functionalities in BigBlueButton which are often used in seminars in a usability test with student participants, and additionally surveyed participants’ general impression of the usability of BBB. This report summarizes the observations that were made during this test and introduces possible redesigns for those UI sections which regularly caused friction for test participants

Research Projekt SiNED Insights - Ancillary services for Reliable Power Grids in times of the Progressive German Energiewende and Digital Transformation

Ancillary services in future power systems have to be provided by decentralized distributed energy resources, resulting in various, interdisciplinary issues. Focusing on the three competence areas (Electrical Power Engineering, Digital Transformation/Information and Communication Technology, and Energy Law and Economics), insights for the central research goals of the project are presented (after three of five years of project duration). While results indicate, that the future ancillary services demand of a climate-neutral power system can be supplied with further developments, open questions and issues still remain. The interdisciplinary studies of the SiNED consortium show that it will be possible to provide ancillary services also from the lower voltage levels, both technically and economically. These results and the necessary regulatory frameworks are discussed in this paper