Effects of Auditory Cues on Human-Robot Collaboration

In recent years, Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) has been widely studied and the demands for human-robot collaboration are expected to increase due to the lack of working population. Regarding to the safety on human-robot collaboration, not only physical safety but also psychological safety has to be considered. However, current collaborative robots only have some limitations for physical safety. In addition, productivity is another problem of collaborative robot because of the speed and payload limitations. To solve these problems, this paper aims at developing a system that can improve the efficiency and perceptions of collaborative work. We designed auditory cues which express the destination of robot motion. Finally, experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of collaborative work, mental stress of collaborators, and perception of collaborative work using both objective and subjective measures. Results revealed that auditory cues significantly improved the efficiency and fluency of collaborative work without negative effects on the mental stress of collaborator.