Do Speed and Proximity Affect Human-Robot Collaboration with an Industrial Robot Arm
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21199747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Story (0000-0001-7976-6786, Cranfield University, corresponding author), Phil Webb (0000-0002-5789-4207, Cranfield University), Sarah Fletcher (0000-0001-9919-6901, Cranfield University), Sarah R Fletcher, Gilbert Tang (0000-0002-5497-7269, Cranfield University), Cyril Jaksic (0000-0001-5835-3480, Cranfield University), Jon Carberry (BAE Systems (Sweden)) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1087-1102 |
| Publication date | 2022-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Social Robotics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1875-4791 • E-ISSN: 1875-4805 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12369-021-00853-y |
| OpenAlex | W4205855657 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 48 |
Current guidelines for Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) allow a person to be within the working area of an industrial robot arm whilst maintaining their physical safety. However, research into increasing automation and social robotics have shown that attributes in the robot, such as speed and proximity setting, can influence a person’s workload and trust. Despite this, studies into how an industrial robot arm’s attributes affect a person during HRC are limited and require further development. Therefore, a study was proposed to assess the impact of robot’s speed and proximity setting on a person’s workload and trust during an HRC task. Eighty-three participants from Cranfield University and the ASK Centre, BAE Systems Samlesbury, completed a task in collaboration with a UR5 industrial robot arm running at different speeds and proximity settings, workload and trust were measured after each run. Workload was found to be positively related to speed but not significantly related to proximity setting. Significant interaction was not found for trust with speed or proximity setting. This study showed that even when operating within current safety guidelines, an industrial robot can affect a person’s workload. The lack of significant interaction with trust was attributed to the robot’s relatively small size and high success rate, and therefore may have an influence in larger industrial robots. As workload and trust can have a significant impact on a person’s performance and satisfaction, it is key to understand this relationship early in the development and design of collaborative work cells to ensure safe and high productivity
Automation · Human–computer interaction · Industrial robot · Robot · Robotics · Simulation · Systems engineering · Workload · Communication · Computer Science · Engineering · Human-Automation Interaction and Safety · Occupational Health and Safety Research · Psychology · Risk and Safety Analysis · Artificial Intelligence
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |