Studying Worker Perceptions on Safety, Autonomy, and Job Security in Human-Robot Collaboration

Abstract

We present a study on analyzing worker perceptions of safety, autonomy, and job security in collaborative environments where human co-workers and robots are expected to offer workers varying levels of collaborative assistance. With the rise in robotization, workers in blue-collar environments face the risk of being displaced. Recent studies suggest that despite showing concern for displacement, workers do see benefits of robots in the workplace, especially ones that collaborate with humans. We survey worker perceptions toward robots that offer varying levels of collaborative assistance-fully interventional or always assistive, fully standoff or never directly assistive, and assistive on an as-needed basis. We administer questionnaire-based surveys to N=530 blue-collar workers in companies spanning construction, contract work, manufacturing, retail, transportation and delivery, and warehousing in 4 countries. To understand the impact of corobots in promoting inclusivity, we break down our analysis in terms of age and sex. Our study shows that robots that provide as-needed assistance are viewed more favorably in terms of preserving autonomy and job security than fully interventional or fully standoff robots, and viewed more positively amongst female and older workers, demonstrating their potential to promote inclusivity and alleviate job displacement concerns.