Stress in manual and autonomous modes of collaboration with a cobot

摘要

Working with collaborative robots (cobots) can be a potential source of stress for their operators. However, research on specific factors that affect users' stress levels when working with a cobot is still scarce. This study is the first to investigate the levels of psychological (primary and secondary stress appraisal) and physiological (heart rate) stress in human operators working in two different cobot modes (i.e., manual and autonomous). We applied an experimental within-subject repeated-measures design to 45 healthy adults (26 women, 19 men). The results show that the levels of secondary stress appraisal were lower and the heart rate levels were higher in the autonomous cobot mode. The results suggest that, when working with a cobot, control plays a key role in the emotional, cognitive, and physiological reactions during the human-robot collaboration. Implications for organizational practice are discussed.