[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7393-7394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01692]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-21-20PR]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information 
collection request titled Improving Safety of Human-Robot Interaction 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. 
CDC previously published a ``Proposed Data Collection Submitted for 
Public Comment and Recommendations'' notice on August 26, 2020 to 
obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. CDC did not 
receive comments related to the previous notice. This notice serves to 
allow an additional 30 days for public and affected agency comments.
    CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:
    (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including, through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses; and
    (e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570. Comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Direct 
written comments and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in 
this notice to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management 
and Budget, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 
395-5806. Provide written comments within 30 days of notice 
publication.

Proposed Project

    Improving Safety of Human-Robot Interaction--New--National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 
through research and prevention. NIOSH has initiated a study among 
manufacturing workers to improve safety of workers that work in close 
proximity with robots. Study results will be used to improve safety 
standards and lead to better design guidelines for industrial robots.
    Rapid growth of advanced collaborative and mobile robots warrants 
investigation on safe human-robot interaction for their potential 
injurious energy transmission from a robot to a worker. Traditional 
safety measures for industrial robots, such as protective barriers, are 
no longer valid for the emerging collaborative and mobile robots. 
Physical contacts between human workers and robots are inevitable and 
even desired when they share a common workspace or work directly with 
each other under collaborative operations. Therefore, NIOSH is 
proposing a study to evaluate the effects of different characteristics 
of robots on human behaviors, perceived safety, workload, and trust.
    The study will take advantage of virtual reality technology to 
simulate human-robot interaction during data collection sessions. 
Participants will conduct two related experiments that will involve 
performing simulated warehouse tasks (e.g., loading/unloading boxes 
from shelves) in a virtual reality laboratory. Participants will 
interact with a mobile robot in the first experiment and a 
collaborative robot arm in the second. They will wear glasses that will 
allow them to see virtual 3D images of the robots and other objects in 
the environment. During each experiment task, we will use motion 
capture technology to track the movement and location of the 
participants and the virtual robots. This will allow us to track 
movement speed and separation distance from the virtual robots. After 
each experiment task, we will administer three questionnaires to the 
participants that will ask them about their perceived safety, mental 
workload, and trust in the robots. We will analyze how these measures 
change based on the virtual robot's operating speed, size, and movement 
trajectory.
    Data collections will occur at the NIOSH facility in Morgantown, 
West Virginia. The target study population will be workers who 
currently work or had worked in the manufacturing industry, with 
varying job experiences. The burden table below accounts for 111 
respondents over a three-year data collection period. Respondents will 
complete all forms only once, besides the Virtual Reality Sickness 
Questionnaire, which will be administered at the beginning and end of 
the data collection, and the three questionnaires (NASA Task Load 
Index, Perceived Safety Questionnaire, and Robot Trust Questionnaire), 
which will be administered after each of the 63 combined experiment 
trials for Experiments 1 and 2. The total estimated burden hours is 
216.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
          Type of respondents                   Form name            Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
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Manufacturing Workers.................  Simulator Sickness                    37               1            1/60
                                         Susceptibility
                                         Questionnaire.
                                        Consent Form............              37               1           10/60
                                        Participant Data                      37               1            1/60
                                         Collection Form.
                                        Virtual Reality Sickness              37               2            1/60
                                         Questionnaire.
                                        Robot Experience                      37               1            6/60
                                         Questionnaire.

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                                        Actual Experiment 1--                 37               1           70/60
                                         Mobile Robot.
                                        Actual Experiment 2--                 37               1           70/60
                                         Collaborative Robot.
                                        NASA Task Load Index....              37              63            1/60
                                        Perceived Safety                      37              63            1/60
                                         Questionnaire.
                                        Robot Trust                           37              63            1/60
                                         Questionnaire.
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2021-01692 Filed 1-27-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P