Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives
Collaborative robots are a new type of lightweight robots that are especially suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. They offer new interaction opportunities and thereby pose new challenges with regard to technology acceptance. Despite acknowledging the importance of acceptance issues, sma...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/11/1/145 |
| _version_ | 1797499222195437568 |
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| author | Marco Baumgartner Tobias Kopp Steffen Kinkel |
| author_facet | Marco Baumgartner Tobias Kopp Steffen Kinkel |
| author_sort | Marco Baumgartner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Collaborative robots are a new type of lightweight robots that are especially suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. They offer new interaction opportunities and thereby pose new challenges with regard to technology acceptance. Despite acknowledging the importance of acceptance issues, small and medium-sized enterprises often lack coherent strategies to identify barriers and foster acceptance. Therefore, in this article, we present a collection of crucial acceptance factors with regard to collaborative robot use at the industrial workplace. Based on these factors, we present a web-based tool to estimate employee acceptance, to provide company representatives with practical recommendations and to stimulate reflection on acceptance issues. An evaluation with three German small and medium-sized enterprises reveals that the tool’s concept meets the demands of small and medium-sized enterprises and is perceived as beneficial as it raises awareness and deepens knowledge on this topic. In order to realise economic potentials, further low-threshold usable tools are needed to transfer research findings into the daily practice of small and medium-sized enterprises. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:44:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-59421b5cc5864934ae5a6b939552b4f2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:44:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-59421b5cc5864934ae5a6b939552b4f22023-11-23T11:23:37ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922022-01-0111114510.3390/electronics11010145Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company RepresentativesMarco Baumgartner0Tobias Kopp1Steffen Kinkel2Institute for Learning and Innovation in Networks, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, 76133 Karlsruhe, GermanyInstitute for Learning and Innovation in Networks, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, 76133 Karlsruhe, GermanyInstitute for Learning and Innovation in Networks, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, 76133 Karlsruhe, GermanyCollaborative robots are a new type of lightweight robots that are especially suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. They offer new interaction opportunities and thereby pose new challenges with regard to technology acceptance. Despite acknowledging the importance of acceptance issues, small and medium-sized enterprises often lack coherent strategies to identify barriers and foster acceptance. Therefore, in this article, we present a collection of crucial acceptance factors with regard to collaborative robot use at the industrial workplace. Based on these factors, we present a web-based tool to estimate employee acceptance, to provide company representatives with practical recommendations and to stimulate reflection on acceptance issues. An evaluation with three German small and medium-sized enterprises reveals that the tool’s concept meets the demands of small and medium-sized enterprises and is perceived as beneficial as it raises awareness and deepens knowledge on this topic. In order to realise economic potentials, further low-threshold usable tools are needed to transfer research findings into the daily practice of small and medium-sized enterprises.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/11/1/145collaborative robotsindustrial human–robot interactionacceptancetechnology adoptionworkplacesmall and medium-sized enterprises |
| spellingShingle | Marco Baumgartner Tobias Kopp Steffen Kinkel Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives Electronics collaborative robots industrial human–robot interaction acceptance technology adoption workplace small and medium-sized enterprises |
| title | Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives |
| title_full | Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives |
| title_fullStr | Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives |
| title_short | Analysing Factory Workers’ Acceptance of Collaborative Robots: A Web-Based Tool for Company Representatives |
| title_sort | analysing factory workers acceptance of collaborative robots a web based tool for company representatives |
| topic | collaborative robots industrial human–robot interaction acceptance technology adoption workplace small and medium-sized enterprises |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/11/1/145 |
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