Announcement distributed 7 days in advance, with approval from Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and the Office of Graduate Education.

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ph.D. Thesis Defense Announcement

SOCIALLY NORMATIVE MOBILE ROBOT NAVIGATION IN CONSTRUCTION

By YeSeul Kim

Advisor: Dr. Yong Kwon Cho (CEE)

Committee Members:  Dr. Edvard Bruun (CEE), Dr. Eric Marks (CEE), Dr. Matthew C Gombolay (IC), Dr. Sehoon Ha (IC)

Date and Time:  April 28, 2025 – 9:30 – 11:30 am

Location: Mason Building 2119

Complete announcement, with abstract, is attached.

ABSTRACT
The construction industry is increasingly utilizing autonomous mobile robots to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity. However, integrating these robots into construction sites that are also shared with human workers requires careful planning to ensure safe and seamless interactions. This dissertation examines socially normative navigation strategies for autonomous robots operating in human-populated workplaces. Through human-subject experimental studies, the research investigates human-robot proxemic norms, assesses the effects of socially appropriate robot behaviors on human perceptions and task performance, and finally develops a context-adaptive social navigation model. The findings show that robots that exhibit socially appropriate navigation behaviors significantly enhance perceived safety and task execution efficiency. This work provides valuable insights and practical methodologies for implementing robots that can safely and effectively co-navigate with human workers, thereby advancing human-robot collaboration in the construction industry