The Impact of Organizational Properties on the Design of Robotic Support for Employees with Disabilities

In this position paper we report on a study of a Korean business that employs people with cognitive and developmental disabilities (DDs) across a variety of operations. The goal of the study was to contribute to the development of scenarios involving the use of a robotic platform to enhance the work-experience of the disabled employees. Based on our findings, we argue for the importance of understanding the broad organizational and bureaucratic properties of a business or workplace when devising HRI scenarios, and of bringing elements like business models, operating philosophy and organizational hierarchies directly into the design process.