Immersive technologies seminar: Rethinking Design for Human-Robot Collaboration

Abstract 
Robots are increasingly shaping our working lives. Initially confined to manufacturing, collaborative robots (cobots) now operate in warehousing, healthcare, agriculture, and even art production. Human-robot interaction research has made considerable progress in facilitating safer and more efficient collaboration, yet much of it prioritizes seamless integration, task optimization, and safety in shared workspaces. Existing frameworks often focus on factors such as task complexity, physical workspace configurations, and the degree of direct human-robot contact, emphasizing the optimization of human and robotic capabilities. While these approaches have advanced the technical and operational aspects of human-robot collaboration, they often overlook broader social, organizational, and labor-related implications. In this talk, I argue for a shift in focus: rather than solely designing for technical integration, we must critically examine who benefits from human-robot collaboration and how it reshapes workplace dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in manufacturing environments—including studies with collaborative robot operators and other key stakeholders—I will present cases that challenge conventional perspectives on human-robot collaboration. Collectively, these field studies highlight the need for more nuanced considerations of social and organizational factors, revealing the diverse and sometimes uneven ways that human-robot collaboration unfolds in practice. By moving beyond simplified models of collaboration, we can develop more contextually informed approaches to designing robots for collaborative work.

Bio 
EunJeong Cheon is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies (iSchool) and a Senior Research Associate at the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute (ASPI) at Syracuse University. Her work in human-computer interaction explores the politics of emerging technology designs, including collaborative robots and labor-tracking AI systems. Her recent projects focus on human-robot collaboration in workplaces such as manufacturing and warehouse industries, as well as in creative domains like robotic art. Through the lens of ethnography and design, and guided by questions from the humanities, she examines the politics and power dynamics that shape the relationships among technology, organizations, and humans. Her research has been published in top-tier conferences in HCI (e.g., ACM CHI, CSCW, DIS) and HRI (e.g., ACM HRI). Before joining Syracuse University, she was a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University in Denmark.