A VR Application for the Analysis of Human Responses to Collaborative Robots

Abstract

The increasing number of robots performing certain tasks in our society, especially in the industrial environment, introduces more scenarios where a human must collaborate with a robot to achieve a common goal which, in turn, raises the need to study how safe and natural this interaction is and how it can be improved. Virtual reality is an excellent tool to simulate these interactions, as it allows the user to be fully immersed in the world while being safe from a possible robot malfunction. In this work, a simulation was created to study how effective virtual reality is in the studies of human-robot interaction. It is then used in an experiment where the participants must collaborate with a simulated Baxter to place objects delivered by the robot in the correct place, within a time limit. During the experiment, the electrodermal activity and heart rate of the participants are measured, allowing for the analysis of reactions to events occurring within the simulation. At the end of each experiment, participants fill a user experience questionnaire (UEQ) and a Flow Short Scale questionnaire to evaluate their sense of presence and the interaction with the robot.