Effects of Robot Arm Design and Movement Speed During Human-Robot Interaction

Details

• Journal Article:
  Applied Ergonomics
• Personal Author:
  Haney, Justin M. ; Ammons, Douglas ; Choi, HeeSun
• Description:
  The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of robot arm size, movement speed, and degrees of freedom on perceived safety, trust, mental workload, human behaviors, and task performance in a collaborative pick-and-place task. Fifty-six participants completed the experiment in a virtual reality environment where they interacted with a robot manipulator. Robot arm speed had a greater impact on self-reported measures, compared to task performance and human behavior. Overall, mean ratings of surprise and fear significantly increased across speed levels of 60 deg/s (surprise = 1.19/6; fear = 1.18/6), 120 deg/s (surprise = 1.37/6; fear = 1.33/6), and 180 deg/s (surprise = 1.65/6; fear = 1.67/6). Conversely, robot arm size and degrees of freedom had a greater influence on task performance and human behavior than on the self-reported outcomes. These findings may provide insights for robot manufacturers and standard committees to improve perceived safety in the workplace.
• Subjects:
  Equipment Design Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Manufacturing Industry Occupational Health Robotics Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Human-robot Interaction; Perceived Safety; Trust Robotics; Manufacturing; Warehousing; Worker Safety; Behavior; Task Performance;
• Source:
  Appl Ergon 2025 Nov; 129:104578
• ISSN:
  0003-6870
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; Texas ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; Dallas Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  9 pdf pages
• Volume:
  129
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071425
• Email:
  JHaney2@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Resource Number:
  59278785
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f15d7a0284ea2c8c1f37d9863c6db6e930ab65aa67f4a70299ad4d97dae9a1b9768b9dea2da5916ab9c6b5c52bfaa9c9cb0caa834aff6162a2036b2df913d771
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/259024/cdc_259024_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.46 MB ]