Typology Development for Synthetic Chemistry Sub-Tasks: Towards Human-Robot Collaboration Task Design in the Wet Lab

Abstract Chemical manufacturing is a growing field that contributes to many industries and employs tens of thousands of researchers in wet labs. Automation tools for synthetic chemistry are of interest not only for their potential impact on efficiency and productivity, but also on human resources and safety, since synthetic chemistry poses a number of occupational risks and is largely inaccessible to researchers with physical disabilities. Currently, most automation tools for synthetic chemistry are either designed to perform highly specialized tasks or they are designed as closed-loop systems with minimal interaction between human and machine during a synthesis procedure. We are pursuing an alternative, human-centered approach to robotic tools for synthetic chemistry, in which general-purpose collaborative robots (cobots) offer diverse forms of support to human researchers in the lab. In order to design frameworks for productive scientist-cobot collaborations, we need a deep understanding of the task space in synthetic chemistry labs and the impact of these various activities on the researchers. Based on observations and surveys from a group of experimental scientists, we have identified and analyzed 10 manual tasks commonly performed by researchers in the wet lab, each of which may be broken down into a sequence of sub-tasks. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the two most frequently performed sub-tasks: liquids dispensing and solids handling. Through subcoding, we identified 40 liquid dispensing typologies and 18 solid handling typologies, and evaluated the burden associated with each of these sub-tasks using the NASA TLX. These data will be of value for the design of human-centered automation tools that support, rather than displace, researchers performing manual tasks in the lab, in order to foster a safer and more accessible lab environment.