Contact Dr Sarah Fletcher
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758234
- Email: s.fletcher@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @drfletch67
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Aerospace Manufacturing
- Human Factors
- Industrial Ergonomics and Human Factors
- Manufacturing Systems
Background
Sarah leads the Industrial Psychology and Human Factors (IPHF) group in the Centre for Structures, Assembly and Intelligent Automation which works to enhance the safe and effective integration of people in new processes and with new technologies. She has been conducting human-systems research at Cranfield for over 24 years, leading the human analysis work on many UK and EU projects in the manufacturing sector as well as defence, automotive and transport. Sarah teaches and supervises at Masters and Doctoral level and has developed new modules for Cranfield's MSc in Robotics and MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence courses. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Chartered Institute of Human Factors and the Women's Engineering Society, and an active participant in a number of ISO and BSI standards committees involving robotics and ergonomics.
Research opportunities
Sarah's research focuses primarily on studying the psychological and social aspects of human-system / human-robot interaction in industrial / work settings. In particular, her work explores how people respond to, and work with, intelligent and digital technologies and to develop solutions that will promote their safety, acceptance, satisfaction and performance. She has worked towards the development of mixed methods that provide more comprehensive and reliable human analysis, combining traditional subjective and psychometric techniques with novel sensor-based physiological measurement tools.
Current activities
Current research activities include leading the human analysis work across five EC Horizon Europe projects - AI-PRISM, CONVERGING, FEROX, JARVIS and MASTERLY - and in the UK's Made Smarter Innovation Research Centre for Smart, Collaborative Industrial Robotics, also known as the Smart Cobotics Centre.
She is also actively involved in the development of national and international standards for robotics, industrial safety, and ergonomics of human-system interaction. This work has included contributing to the development of the world's first standard for ethical design and application of robots (BS 8611:2016) and running a national survey to capture public opinions and acceptance of robots in everyday settings: BSI/Cranfield robot survey
Clients
Airbus
BAE Systems
Ford
Meggitt
Rolls-Royce
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Story M, Webb P, Fletcher SR, Tang G, Jaksic C, .... (2022). Do speed and proximity affect human-robot collaboration with an industrial robot arm?. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14(4)
- Ferreira MIA & Fletcher SR. (2022). Preface. Intelligent Systems Control and Automation Science and Engineering, 81
- Ariansyah D, Erkoyuncu JA, Eimontaite I, Johnson T, Oostveen A-M, .... (2021). A head mounted augmented reality design practice for maintenance assembly: toward meeting perceptual and cognitive needs of AR users. Applied Ergonomics, 98(January)
- Story M, Jaksic C, Fletcher SR, Webb P, Tang G, .... (2021). Evaluating the use of human aware navigation in industrial robot arms. Paladyn, Journal of Behavioral Robotics, 12(1)
- Ibarguren A, Eimontaite I, Outón JL & Fletcher S. (2020). Dual arm co-manipulation architecture with enhanced human–robot communication for large part manipulation. Sensors, 20(21)
- Fletcher SR, Johnson TL, Adlon T, Larreina J, Casla P, .... (2019). Adaptive automation assembly: Identifying system requirements for technical efficiency and worker satisfaction. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 139
- Johnson TL, Fletcher SR, Baker W & Charles R. (2018). How and why we need to capture tacit knowledge in manufacturing: Case studies of visual inspection. Applied Ergonomics, 74
- Charalambous G, Fletcher SR & Webb P. (2017). The development of a Human Factors Readiness Level tool for implementing industrial human-robot collaboration. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 91(5-8)
- Fletcher SR, Johnson TL & Thrower J. (2016). A study to trial the use of inertial non-optical motion capture for ergonomic analysis of manufacturing work. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 232(1)
- Charalambous G, Fletcher S & Webb P. (2016). The Development of a Scale to Evaluate Trust in Industrial Human-robot Collaboration. International Journal of Social Robotics, 8(2)
- Charalambous G, Fletcher S & Webb P. (2015). Identifying the key organisational human factors for introducing human-robot collaboration in industry: an exploratory study. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 81(9-12)
- Everitt J, Fletcher SR & Caird-Daley A. (2015). Task analysis of discrete and continuous skills: a dual methodology approach to human skills capture for automation. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 16(5)
- Lockett H, Fletcher S & Luquet N. (2014). Applying Design for Assembly Principles in Computer Aided Design to Make Small Changes that Improve the Efficiency of Manual Aircraft Systems Installations. SAE International Journal of Aerospace, 7(2)
- Baines T, Lightfoot H, Smart P & Fletcher S. (2013). Servitization of manufacture. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 24(4)
- Tiewtrakul T & Fletcher SR. (2010). The challenge of regional accents for aviation English language proficiency standards: A study of difficulties in understanding in air traffic control–pilot communications. Ergonomics, 53(2)
- Fletcher SR, Baines TS & Harrison DK. (2008). An investigation of production workers’ performance variations and the potential impact of attitudes. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 35(11-12)
