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WeBuild: Automatically Distributing Assembly Tasks Among Collocated Workers to Improve Coordination

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Physical construction and assembly tasks are often carried out by groups of collocated workers, and they can be difficult to coordinate. Group members must spend time deciding how to split up the task, how to assign subtasks to each other, and in what order subtasks should be completed. Informed by an observational study examining group coordination challenges, we built a task distribution system called WeBuild. Our custom algorithm dynamically assigns subtasks to workers in a group, taking into account factors such as the dependencies between subtasks and the skills of each group member. Each worker views personalized step-by-step instructions on a mobile phone, while a dashboard visualizes the entire process. An initial study found that WeBuild reduced the start-up time needed to coordinate and begin a task, and provides direction for future research to build on toward improving group efficiency and coordination for complex tasks.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2017
    7138 pages
    ISBN:9781450346559
    DOI:10.1145/3025453
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    Published: 02 May 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. assembly instructions
    2. collaboration
    3. coordination
    4. task distribution

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    • (2023)What Can We Learn From Educators About Teaching in Makerspaces?Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585687(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2023)Understanding the educators’ practices in makerspaces for the design of education toolsEducational technology research and development10.1007/s11423-023-10305-172:1(329-358)Online publication date: 27-Nov-2023
    • (2021)Revisited: Comparison of Empirical Methods to Evaluate Visualizations Supporting Crafting and Assembly PurposesIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2020.303040027:2(1204-1213)Online publication date: Feb-2021
    • (2020)AuthrProceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3379337.3415872(1194-1208)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2020
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