High efficiency or easy troubleshooting? Human use of autonomous Mobile healthcare robots

Abstract

Among modern information technologies, robots help reduce the effort employees expend on tasks that are repetitive and physically demanding. When helping employees, robots may be required to display enhanced efficiency, but such a design can also increase employees' effort required for operational troubleshooting. It is not yet known whether effort saving (i.e., increasing nurses' time and energy saved) or reduced troubleshooting effort (i.e., reducing nurses' time and energy costs) is more important for enhancing users' perception that the robot is performing optimally (user-perceived robot performance) and positive workplace outcomes. This hinders robot providers from making optimal decisions on robot design. In a healthcare context, nurses comprise the largest workforce and thus we examined autonomous mobile robots that help nurses carry heavy equipment and materials to and from operating rooms to meet the demand of surgical operations. Hence, this study examined the relative influence of increased effort saving versus reduced troubleshooting effort on perceived robot performance, patient care, and nurse health. We collected responses from 331 operating room nurses through two waves of surveys. Compared with reduced troubleshooting effort, effort saving effectively increased nurse-perceived robot performance, patient care and nurse health, from 39 % to 77 %. Nurses' greater professional experience reduced the negative influence of troubleshooting effort on perceived robot performance. These findings showed that designing information technologies for high efficiency is more important than designing for ease of troubleshooting. This research contributes to decision-making of robot makers and hospitals by indicating that the effects of benefits and costs may depend on the features of users.