Human-Robot Interactions in the Workplace – Key Challenges and Concerns

Anna Agnieszka Rakowska

Abstract


Theoretical background: The use of robots/AI in the workplace has grown rapidly in the last years. There is observed enlargement not only of the numbers of robots but also the quality of their functions and applications. Therefore, many questions of practical, scientific and moral nature have arisen. The flowering use of robots has drawn scientists’ attention to interactions between humans and robots. As a result, a new multidisciplinary research area – Human-Robot Interactions (HRI) – is growing. Representatives of HRI try to answer the questions like: How anthropomorphic features of robots may affect interactions between robots and employees? How are robots supposed to look and behave to make interactions more pleasant for employees? Can human cooperation with humanoid robots lead to the formation of socio-mechanical bonds?

Purpose of the article: The paper aims to identify determinants of human-robot interactions in the workplace and identify key research problems in this area.

Research methods: The method of a systematic review of the literature fulfiled the above-mentioned purpose. The Web of Science was chosen as the basic database. The list of publications from the Web of Science was supplemented with some other publications which were related to the topic.

Main findings: There are several factors that determine the perception and quality of HRI in the workplace. Especially trust, anthropomorphic features of the robot, and organizational assignment may decide about the human acceptance of the use of a non-human agent and HRI. The concept of social interaction with robots is at an initial stage yet. An adopted research paradigm also plays an important role. It seems that the classical assumptions of organizational sociology will not stand the test of time. Researchers and practitioners are facing new challenges. Especially there are some ontological questions that are not easy to be answered unanimously. Can we treat a robot as a mechanical device or rather as a member of a newly created community?


Keywords


robots; AI; relationships; anthropomorphic features; agency

Full Text:

PDF

References


Arslan, A., Cooper, C., Khan, Z., Golgeci, I., & Ali, I. (2021). Artifiial intelligence and human workers interaction at team level: a conceptual assessment of the challenges and potential HRM strategies. International Journal of Manpower, 43(1), 75–88. doi:10.1108/IJM-01-2021-0052

Asimov, I.(1950). “Runaround”. I, Robot (The Isaac Asimov Collection ed.). New York: Doubleday.

Barandiaran, X.E., Di Paolo, E., & Rohde, M. (2009). Defiing agency: Individuality, normativity, asymmetry, and spatio-temporality in action Adaptive Behavior, 17(5), 367–386. doi:10.1177/1059712309343819

Belk, R. (2021). Ethical issues in service robotics and artifiial intelligence. The Service Industries Journal, 41(13–14), 860–876.

Belouaer, L., Bouzid, M., & Mouaddib, A.I. (2010). A spatial ontology for human-robot interaction. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (pp. 154–159).

Ben-Ari, M., & Mondada, F. (2018). Robots and their applications. In M. Ben-Ari & F. Mondada, Elements of Robotics (pp. 1–20). Cham: Springer.

Bridle, J. (2018). New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future. London – New York: Verso.

Burgoon, J.K., Bonito, J.A., Bengtsson, B., Cederberg, C., Lundeberg, M., & Allspach, L. (2000). Interactivity in human-computer interaction: A study of credibility, understanding, and influence. Computers in Human Behavior, 16(6), 553–574.

Castro-González, A., Admoni, H., & Scassellati, B. (2016). Effects of form and motion on judgments of social robots’ animacy, likability, trustworthiness and unpleasantness. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 90, 27–38. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.02.004

Colquitt, J.A., Scott, B.A., & LePine, J.A. (2007). Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4), 909–927.

Czarniawska, B. (2006). Book review: Bruno Latour: Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. Organization Studies, 27(10), 1553–1557.

Dahlin, E. (2019). Are robots stealing our jobs? Socius, 5 doi:1197/2378023119846249

Domańska, E. (2007). „Zwrot performatywny” we współczesnej humanistyce. Teksty Drugie, 5, 48–61.

Garcia, M. (2016). Racist in the Machine. World Policy Journal, 33(4), 111–117.

Gasparetto, A., & Scalera, L. (2019). From the Unimate to the Delta robot: The early decades of Industrial Robotics. In Explorations in the History and Heritage of Machines and Mechanisms (pp. 284–295). Cham: Springer

Haraway, D. (2006). A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late 20th century. In J. Weiss, J. Nolan, J. Hunsinger, & P. Trifonas (Eds.), The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments (pp. 117–158). Dordrecht: Springer.

Haring, K.S., Silvera-Tawil, D., Takahashi, T., Watanabe, K., & Velonaki, M. (2016). How people perceive different robot types: A direct comparison of an android, humanoid, and non-biomimetic robot. In 8th International Conference on Knowledge and Smart Technology (pp. 265–270). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers doi:10.1109/KST.2016.7440504

Ingold, T. (2013). Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London – New York: Routledge

Latour, B. (2013). Technologia jako utrwalone społeczeństwo. AVANT. Pismo Awangardy Filozoficzno-Naukowej, 1, 17–48.

Moran, M.E. (2007). Rossum’s universal robots: Not the machines. Journal of Endourology, 21(12), 1399–1402.

Mou, W., Ruocco, M., Zanatto, D., & Cangelosi, A. (2020). When would you trust a robot? A study on trust and theory of mind in human-robot interactions In 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (pp. 956–962). IEEE.

Nass, C., Steuer, J., & Tauber, E.R. (1994). Computers are social actors. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 72–78).

Peng, M., Qin, Y., Tang, C., & Deng, X. (2016). An e-commerce customer service robot based on intention recognition model Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), 14(1), 34–44.

Petersen, B.K., Chowhan, J., Cooke, G.B., Gosine, R., & Warrian, P. (2021). Will the Robots Take Our Jobs? An Intersectional Study of Human Capital and Automation Academy of Management Proceedings, 2021(1), 10978.

Phillips, E., Zhao, X., Ullman, D., & Malle, B.F. (2018). What is human-like?: Decomposing robots’ human-like appearance using the anthropomorphic roBOT (ABOT) database. In 13th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 105–113). IEEE.

Powers A., & Kiesler S. (2006). The advisor robot: Tracing people’s mental model from a robot’s physical attributes In Proceedings of the 1 st ACM SIGCHI/SIGART Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 218–225). Salt Lake City. doi:10.1145/1121241.1121280

Prucher J. (2007). Brave New Words. The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. New York: Oxford University Press.

Robelski, S., & Wischniewski, S. (2016). Scoping Review on Human-Machine Interaction and Health and Safety at Work. In International Conference on HCI in Business, Government, and Organizations (pp. 337–347). Cham: Springer.

Rodriguez-Lluesma, C., García-Ruiz, P., & Pinto-Garay, J. (2021). The digital transformation of work: A relational view. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 30(1), 157–167.

Sarowski, Ł. (2017) Robot społeczny – wprowadzenie do zagadnienia. Roczniki Kulturoznawcze, 8(1), 75–89. doi:10.18290/rkult.2017.8.1-4

Schweitzer, M.G., & Puig-Verges, N. (2018). Will developmental Robotics and Artifiial Intelligence lead to the emergence of new values for humans? Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 176(3), 291–295.

Søraa, R.A. (2017). Mechanical genders: How do humans gender robots? Gender, Technology and Development, 21(1–2), 99–115.

Sparrow, R. (2019). Do robots have race? Race, social construction, and HRI. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 27(3), 144–150.

Turja, T., Minkkinen, J., & Mauno, S. (2021). Robotizing meaningful work. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 20(2), 177–192. doi:10.1108/JICES-06-2021-0063

Vertesi, J. (2019). Seeing like a Rover: Team work and human-robot relations. In 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 152–152). IEEE.

Von der Pütten, A.M., & Krämer, N.C. (2012). A survey on robot appearances. In Proceedings of the Seventh Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 267–268). Boston: Association for Computing Machinery. doi:10.1145/2157689.2157787

Wasielewska, A., & Łupkowski, P. (2021). Nieoczywiste relacje z technologią. Przegląd badań na temat ludzkich postaw wobec robotów. Człowiek i Społeczeństwo, 51, 165–187.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/h.2022.56.1.95-106
Date of publication: 2022-09-05 12:06:28
Date of submission: 2022-04-25 09:51:10


Statistics


Total abstract view - 880
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Anna Agnieszka Rakowska

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.