Towards social embodied cobots: The integration of an industrial cobot with a social virtual agent

TL;DR

This study explores how integrating a social virtual agent with an industrial cobot affects workers' perceptions of social presence and engagement, comparing two display configurations to inform design for workplace well-being.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into how different embodied configurations of cobot-avatar systems influence social perception constructs in industrial settings.

Findings

Both configurations effectively supported social presence and engagement.

Strong correlations found between social presence, unity, and social role perceptions.

No significant preference for either configuration among participants.

Abstract

The integration of the physical capabilities of an industrial collaborative robot with a social virtual character may represent a viable solution to enhance the workers' perception of the system as an embodied social entity and increase social engagement and well-being at the workplace. An online study was setup using prerecorded video interactions in order to pilot potential advantages of different embodied configurations of the cobot-avatar system in terms of perceptions of Social Presence, cobot-avatar Unity and Social Role of the system, and explore the relation of these. In particular, two different configurations were explored and compared: the virtual character was displayed either on a tablet strapped onto the base of the cobot or on a large TV screen positioned at the back of the workcell. The results imply that participants showed no clear preference based on the constructs, and both configurations fulfill these basic criteria. In terms of the relations between the constructs, there were strong correlations between perception of Social Presence, Unity and Social Role (Collegiality). This gives a valuable insight into the role of these constructs in the perception of cobots as embodied social entities, and towards building cobots that support well-being at the workplace.