Designing interaction interface for supportive human-robot collaboration: A co-creation study involving factory employees

Considering social-technical factors during the design and implementation of collaborative robots (cobots) is important to ensure their successful integration into industrial workspaces and the well-being of the operators such as ergonomics. In this work, we present a co-creation study in developing an interaction interface for a human–robot collaboration (HRC) system involving SME factory employees. Employing a qualitative research method, the co-creation activities in this study sought employees’ input on preferred use cases and collaboration methods with robots. The gathered qualitative data was used to design the HRC interaction interface, aligning it with operators’ needs and preferences. The developed system was fully functional, underwent technical validation, and received feedback from the factory operators. Our study emphasizes the importance of involving employees in the design of HRC interaction interfaces, which can result in HRC systems that meet their needs and preferences. Such customized systems have the potential to enhance the acceptance of robots in industrial settings. The study contributes to the field by demonstrating a participatory approach to designing an HRC interaction interface for a robot in a real industrial setting, where no use cases or interaction modalities were pre-defined.