Pepper on the Job: Applying Social Robots in Employee Training

Advancing digitization in working environments brings up the necessity of lifelong learning as well as technology-supported employee training. Research on social robots has already demonstrated their potential to support adults in their learning process. In this study, we focus on potential benefits of applying a social robot for employee training. We conducted a field study in cooperation with a company and set-up two conditions: a robot-supported learning environment and the onscreen learning environment the company usually uses for employee training. Our results show a positive perception of the robot and participants of the robot condition reported significantly more enjoyment while learning. Half of the participants are willing to use it again in the future: some prefer the robot-supported training over the onscreen training, while others were interested to use both options. However, the other half stick with onscreen learning in the future and there were no significant differences between motivation and learning success between the two groups.