Man-Robot Collaboration in the Context of Industry 4.0: Approach-Avoidance Tendencies as an Indicator for the Affective Quality of Interaction?

Abstract

Collaborative work of man and machine in close proximity is considered as an enabling feature of the Industry 4.0 concept. Acceptance and performance are crucial aspects for the success of such working environments. To enhance acceptance it is necessary to understand the effects of robot behavior on human's behavior. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of robotic motion on human expressive behavior during the interaction in close distance. As a theoretical framework the concept of approach-avoidance behavior was adopted. For this reason we analyzed human motion trajectories during the interaction with an industrial robot in a real setup. Our findings suggest that an active robot affects the movement behavior of interacting participants considerably. Interestingly, an active robot seems to be more positively evaluated than a non-moving robot. In contrast to our expectations the approach-avoidance behavior of our participants suggest that human-like movement patterns of the industrial robot were evaluated less positively than robot-like mechanical behavior. In general assessing approach-avoidance behavior seems to be a promising method for an implicit measure of the affective quality of human-robot collaboration.