The Impact of Physically Demanding Human-Drone Communication on Worker Mental Stress

While drones have exhibited considerable potential to revolutionize the construction industry, previous studies across domains have proposed that human-drone interaction could cause adverse impacts on humans (e.g., collision and discomfort). Given that construction has been recognized as a hazardous and high-stress workplace, it deserves deep exploration regarding how newly introduced drones will influence worker well-being during the interaction. However, there is a paucity of research on worker stress when communicating with drones in construction. Successful human-drone interaction must necessitate seamless and comfortable communication between workers and drones. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of physically demanding response levels on construction workers’ mental and physical well-being throughout the communication cycle. Three levels of physical responses (low, medium, and high) required for drone communication were simulated in an extended reality roofing experiment. During the communication process, real-time stress levels were assessed through participants’ electrodermal activity. The results indicated that a higher physical level of communication significantly increased workers’ higher stress levels in both the response and decoding phases. Additionally, providing drones’ feedback in verbal human-drone communication is especially important to reduce workers’ confusion and mental stress. This study highlights the critical need for worker-centric design and communication strategies in drone integration within construction.