Designing a Robot that Snaps Construction Marking Lines with Jackie Thompson, BayCHI Program
Channel: BayCHI, San Francisco Bay Area ACM SIGCHI
Date: 16/06/2023

February 14. 2023

https://baychi.org/calendar/20230214/

Despite the digitization of building construction through CAD and upgraded power tools, the industry overall suffers from major inefficiencies and low productivity. Robots and automated systems working daily on construction sites are starting to address these deficits. Jackie will use as an example a robot that marks a construction site "layout" to address the challenges of implementing robots and their control systems. The goal is that anyone can operate a robot in an environment as complex as an active building construction site.

The Dusty Robotics FieldPrinter is a service robot that bridges the gap between the digital design world and construction reality. It brings construction site layout information from architects directly to the job site. Such a new automated tool comes with new challenges of making it work for non-technology savvy users. Jackie will show how good design makes it easy for Dusty Operators to physically mark layout at a construction from CAD drawings. Challenges include:

    The range of users involved.
    Schedule and accuracy expectations.
    Obstructions.
    Unpredictabilities.

Jackie Thompson is a human-centered product designer at Dusty Robotics who focuses on applying feedback about robot usability into the UI designs. Her experience in using construction robots at construction sites helps in her usability work. Bringing her knowledge back to the office, Jackie wrote and executed tests to prevent difficult-to-use features from reaching construction sites. She works in the product design team to continue improving the FieldPrinter UX.