Contemporary robotic workplaces are increasingly complex, involving multiple robots, machines, and digital services. Their setup and adaptation demand collaboration across domains, yet domain experts with essential process knowledge are typically non-programmers. Prior research in end-user robot programming has simplified individual task specification, but little is known about how multiple users coordinate and maintain shared awareness when programming together. This paper presents an empirical study of a handheld augmented-reality system that enables co-located users to jointly create and edit robot programs in a shared workspace. Through qualitative analysis of five participant pairs, we examine how collaborators coordinate their actions, manage workspace awareness, and negotiate control. The results reveal opportunities and challenges of co-located handheld AR programming and inform the design of collaborative, context-aware interfaces that can better support end-user participation in configuring industrial robotic workplaces.
ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems