Using anthropomorphism to improve the human-machine interaction in industrial environments (Part II)

Abstract

The idea of socio-technical systems emphasizes the mutual interrelationship between humans and technical system considering the human operator as an integral part of the system. However, to use the full potential of this idea the technical system has to be perceived and accepted as a team-partner. Anthropomorphism is a promising approach to improve the acceptance of non-human entities as team-partners. In the second part of this joint contribution we present a revised experimental setup of the studies presented in the first part. A virtual environment consisting of a robotized assembly cell was utilized to conduct a prediction experiment with nine subjects comparing anthropomorphic and robotic speed profiles on a gantry robot. As in the first part the task of the participants was to predict the target position during movement. The results show significant effects towards shorter prediction time and less errors when using anthropomorphic speed profiles. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.