Validation of a usability questionnaire for summative evaluation of robotic systems

摘要

This paper presents the development and validation process of a robot specific usability questionnaire based on the DIN EN ISO 9241-110:2020-10.Robotic systems are increasingly prevalent in different work domains and allow new forms of interaction between robot and worker. Usability plays an important role for the interaction quality. The IsoMetrics Usability Questionnaire is an established survey instrument for the user-centered usability assessment of interactive systems. It is based on seven principles for the ergonomic design of interactive systems in the DIN EN ISO standard 9241-110. In 2020, a new version of the standard was published, which changed the norm regarding content and structure. Hence, at this time no robot specific instrument exists that represents the norm accurately.An initial item pool of 100 robot specific items was assessed in a video-based online study. Exploratory factor analysis showed a ten-factorial structure, closely representing the interaction principles. Confirmatory factor analysis could not replicate these results. To test the construct validity, convergent and divergent constructs were evaluated with mixed results.The questionnaire in its preliminary form has high content validity, and indicates that the DIN EN ISO standard can be used as a basis for a questionnaire suitable to evaluate usability in robotic systems. However, further research is needed to identify reasons for the deviating results of the confirmatory factor analysis.