Does it Feel Safer? A Pilot Study on the Stress Levels of Humans for Varied Robot Control Strategies and Collaboration Scenarios

Abstract: Human-robot collaboration is an essential factor in current industry and social applications. A key aspect of meaningful and effective collaboration is the safety of the human worker. Therefore, different objective metrics allow researchers to assess safety based on measurements like distance between humans and robots, speed of the robot, or force exerted by the robot. However, for an effective collaboration, objective safety metrics are essential, as well as the subjective perception of safety by the user. To investigate the subjective stress level of users during human-robot collaboration, we conducted a pilot study with 20 participants with varied control strategies and collaboration scenarios. Furthermore, a stress prediction model is proposed based on the collected data. The results show that the collaboration scenario significantly influences the subjective stress levels of users, and trends in the data indicate that the robot’s collision avoidance strategy also impacts stress levels. The proposed stress prediction model shows the potential to forecast the stress levels of users based on the collected data, enabling possible feedback options for different control solutions. However, further studies are required to investigate generalized stress prediction models for various collaboration scenarios and control strategies.

Keywords: Human-Robot Collaboration, User Study, Collision Avoidance Strategies, Human Stress in Collaboration

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005525

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