A cooperative approach to the design of an Operator Control Unit for a semi-autonomous grit-blasting robot

Due to the diverse range of applications that robots cover today, Human Robot Interaction interface design has become an equally diverse area. This diverse area is characterised by the different types of end users that make use of the robots. For robots to be useful to end users their needs have to be well understood by the robotics development teams. One approach that facilitates understanding the end users needs is Cooperative Design. This paper presents the results of a study that took a Cooperative Design approach to the design and development of a robotic Operator Control Unit. The results presented here demonstrate that end users involved in the cooperative design approach thought it added important value to the design outcome, that they enjoyed the process and that it helped build interpersonal relationships within the development team