Human, Organisational and Societal Factors in Robotic Rail Infrastructure Maintenance

Sustainability

Jamie Chan-Pensley¹  Shyma Jundi¹  Nastaran Dadashi²  Brendan Ryan²  Amanda Hall³  David Golightly⁴ 

[1] Connected Places Catapult, The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 1BP, UK;Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK;Network Rail, The Quadrant:MK, Elder Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 1EN, UK;School of Engineering, Stephenson Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK;

关键词: robotics;    human factors;    railway;    maintenance;    organisational change;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su14042123

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Robotics are set to play a significant role in the maintenance of rail infrastructure. However, the introduction of robotics in this environment requires new ways of working for individuals, teams and organisations and needs to reflect societal attitudes if it is to achieve sustainable goals. The following paper presents a qualitative analysis of interviews with 25 experts from rail and robotics to outline the human and organisational issues of robotics in the rail infrastructure environment. Themes were structured around user, team, organisational and societal issues. While the results point to many of the expected issues of robotics (trust, acceptance, business change), a number of issues were identified that were specific to rail. Examples include the importance of considering the whole maintenance task lifecycle, conceptualizing robotic teamworking within the structures of rail maintenance worksites, the complex upstream (robotics suppliers) and downstream (third-party maintenance contractors) supply chain implications of robotic deployment and the public acceptance of robotics in an environment that often comes into direct contact with passenger and people around the railways. Recommendations are made in the paper for successful, human-centric rail robotics deployment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown