"How are you today, Panda the Robot?" – Affectiveness, Playfulness and Relatedness in Human-Robot Collaboration in the Factory Context

Abstract

The integration of collaborative robots (cobots) is changing manufacturing and production processes in factories. When cobots are designed to be efficient, skillful and safe to interact with, workers can collaborate with them conveniently. As workers often work with cobots intensively, it is crucial to explore the user experience (UX) of cobots. The goal of our research is to explore how factory cobots could be used in ways that support pleasurable worker experiences. We adapted "research through design" (RtD) to conduct exploratory research on novel interactions related to affectiveness, playfulness and relatedness in human-robot collaboration (HRC) using collaborative robot arm, Panda. RtD is a method that utilizes methods and practices of design to produce new knowledge. We conducted an exploratory study with 33 participants to evaluate three HRC storyboards scenarios in two complementary remote workshops. The findings report suitability of affective and playful behavior of cobots in an industrial setting. In addition, we deduced that personality of the robot plays a crutial role in HRC.