Review of experimental studies on human-robot system situations and their design implications

The literature on robot-related accidents clearly shows that the greatest risk of accidents occurs during programming and/or maintenance, times when the individual is within the operating envelope of the robot. The circumstance of the accidents and incidents reported has frequently involved an unexpected robot movement which was caused by equipment failure or human error. The need for human factors research on human-robot interface safety and productivity has been widely reported in the literature. Unfortunately, the number of actual studies of human performance in man-robot systems is comparatively small. A search of the literature revealed only 11 such studies. The goal of this article is to briefly describe and synthesize the experimental results generated in the human factors studies, make recommendations to improve the safety of the persons working in the vicinity of industrial robots, and to propose future research avenues in this area.