Robotic capabilities framework: A boundary object and intermediate-level knowledge artifact for co-designing robotic processes

2025-12-02

AI Summary

Contemporary human-robot collaborative design is often led by a single discipline, neglecting cross-disciplinary integration and frontline workers’ experiential knowledge—resulting in suboptimal task allocation and insufficient design inclusivity. Method: We propose a high-level capability-centered robotic capability framework, serving as a boundary object to bridge technical experts and frontline workers. It supports co-division and co-design of human-robot tasks by abstracting away low-level technical details and emphasizing interpretable, negotiable capability representations. Developed via reflective iteration, the framework was validated through real-world robotic system documentation and student-led design activities. Contribution/Results: The framework demonstrably enhances cross-domain dialogue and significantly improves design inclusivity, practice relevance, and fairness across two heterogeneous contexts. It provides a reusable methodological tool for participatory human-robot collaboration design.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Architectures and workflows that use LLMs for crowd work
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Fairness-aware retrieval and ranking

Abstract

As robots become more adaptable, responsive, and capable of interacting with humans, the design of effective human-robot collaboration becomes critical. Yet, this design process is typically led by monodisciplinary approaches, often overlooking interdisciplinary knowledge and the experiential knowledge of workers who will ultimately share tasks with these systems. To address this gap, we introduce the robotic capabilities framework, a vocabulary that enables transdisciplinary collaborations to meaningfully shape the future of work when robotic systems are integrated into the workplace. Rather than focusing on the internal workings of robots, the framework centers discussion on high-level capabilities, supporting dialogue around which elements of a task should remain human-led and which can be delegated to robots. We developed the framework through reflexive and iterative processes, and applied it in two distinct settings: by engaging roboticists in describing existing commercial robots using its vocabulary, and through a design activity with students working on robotics-related projects. The framework emerges as an intermediate-level knowledge artifact and a boundary object that bridges technical and experiential domains, guiding designers, empowering workers, and contributing to more just and collaborative futures of work.

Problem

• Develop a framework for human-robot collaboration design
• Bridge interdisciplinary and experiential knowledge gaps
• Guide task delegation between humans and robots

Innovation

• Framework for transdisciplinary robotic process co-design
• Focuses on high-level capabilities, not internal robot workings
• Bridges technical and experiential knowledge as boundary object