Addressing the impact of robots during disassembly operations: results from an empirical study

Abstract The use of robots in industrial environments has become standard practice over the past 40 years. Advances in technology have enabled robots to actively interact with humans, thereby creating opportunities for enhanced collaboration. In remanufacturing, human–robot interaction (HRI) has contributed significantly to improving productivity and ergonomics, particularly during the disassembly phase, a critical stage due to the varying quality of returned products. However, the cognitive impact of robots on human operators performing disassembly tasks remains an underexplored area in existing literature. This paper presents an empirical study to address this gap. The study was conducted in a virtual reality (VR) remanufacturing environment. An experiment was designed involving 82 participants who completed a disassembly task in a shared workspace while a robot simultaneously performed other tasks. Following task execution, the participants completed a questionnaire to evaluate their subjective perceptions and experiences during the interaction. The findings indicate that the robot’s presence had minimal overall influence on the participants, with a few exceptions. Specific characteristics of the robot, such as noise level and proximity, were identified as moderately significant factors, particularly among female participants, who were the most impacted by these factors, reporting the highest levels of disturbance and distraction. These results provide valuable insights into the nuanced role of robotic features in shaping human perception during HRI. This study contributes to advancing knowledge in HRI by highlighting the need for further research on cognitive impacts and subjective experiences in shared human–robot remanufacturing workspaces. Graphical Abstract