Socially Assistive Robot as Laboratory Safety Assistant for Science Students

Laboratory accidents happen due to human errors, especially when science students experiment with hazardous materials in the laboratory. In many cases, these accidents are caused by carelessness and negligence of laboratory guidelines, resulting in personal injuries and damaged assets. In the absence of lab supervisors, a robot-assisted dashboard intervention could minimize the harm and disruption. This paper proposes a framework to support science students in laboratory environments. The Laboratory Safety Assistant framework (hereafter, LSA framework) is designed to detect student behaviors that could lead to accidents during laboratory experiments. The LSA framework comprises a socially assistive robot, including advanced sensors and dashboards that enable interventions. In designing the framework, a user-centered co-design approach is taken into consideration. The framework aims to meet three user requirements, namely monitoring, assisting, and social companionship. Three conceptual designs of the dashboard are proposed as a robot-assisted intervention.