Methodology v0.1
Evidence has levels.
Useworthy is designed to show how strongly a robot claim is supported. The alpha does not issue certification and deliberately avoids a single overall score when long-term data is missing.
E1
Manufacturer claim
Datasheets, manuals, product pages and vendor statements.
E2
Public demonstration
Observable demo or company-reported field result without independent verification.
E3
Independent test
A repeatable third-party test with documented conditions and product version.
E4
Verified deployment
Operating data from a real deployment with evidence sufficient to verify the metric.
E5
Longitudinal fleet data
Multi-site, multi-unit, long-term field data with version and exposure normalization.
Metrics Useworthy is building toward
| Dimension | Priority metrics | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability | Human interventions / 100 productive hours; MTBF; MTTR; unplanned downtime | Shows whether the robot removes work or creates supervision work. |
| Autonomy | Autonomous task ratio; teleoperation ratio; recovery success | Separates a successful demo from truly autonomous work. |
| Safety | Collision force; fall behavior; e-stop latency; sensor/communication failure behavior; vulnerabilities | CE status alone does not explain real-world application risk. |
| Usability | Time-to-useful; setup hours; weekly maintenance; support response | Integration burden can dominate purchase economics. |
| Economics | Cost per productive hour | Normalizes purchase price, downtime, human assistance, maintenance and software. |
Autonomy labels
- A0Fully teleoperated
- A1Continuous human supervision
- A2Autonomous execution with frequent intervention
- A3Single-task autonomous; human help mainly for exceptions
- A4Multi-task continuous autonomy
- A5Long-duration open-environment autonomy with rare intervention