Immersive Virtual Cave Environments for Enhancing Human-Robot Collaboration Studies in Industrial Contexts

The integration of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) into industrial production aims to enhance efficiency by combining human intuition with robotic precision. Traditional lab environments often fail to capture the complexity of real-world settings, hindering effective HRC research. This study addresses this gap by using a 3D cave setup with stereoscopic 360-degree video and dynamic Unity 3D content to create a more immersive experimental environment. Twelve participants tested an industrial robot in three conditions: no cave, non-responsive 3D video, and interactive 3D content. Results showed that the immersive setup improved role assumption, interaction, and contextual awareness, bridging the gap between lab research and real-world applications.