Human–robot interaction challenges in the workplace.

Abstract

I n this chapter, we discuss challenges for designing robots that interact with people in the workplace. We do so from the perspective of the research field called human-robot interaction (HRI), which studies the engineering methods, design aspects, social issues, and psychological outcomes arising from interacting with robots. The "workplace" in this chapter is defined broadly and can include any of a number of contexts in which robots could work alongside humans, such as factories, supermarkets, offices, care facilities, and construction sites. We do, however, exclude some specialized work environments, which already have humans interacting closely with robots, specifically military, space exploration, and surgery contexts. These settings have been covered at length in the literature. Instead, we discuss workplace settings in which robots are currently rare, but which are considered by the research community as likely future contexts for HRI.