Key Factors for Social Acceptance of Robots in the Industrial and Service Oriented Human-Robot Interaction Domains

A literature review is conducted, presenting an overview of the crucial factors that impact the robots acceptance in the human-robot interaction (HRI) settings. In particular, our goal is to differentiate between factors whose measurement can be performed through indicators already available in the literature and those requiring additional efforts for quantification and incorporation into the design and control of robots. The key elements are categorized according to two primary categories, i.e., manufacturing and service. Within the manufacturing domain, six factors are identified: (perceived) occupational safety, physical ergonomics, cognitive ergonomics, efficiency, design, and privacy. Instead, within the service domain, four factors are acknowledged: safety, design, cognitive and emotional comfort, and privacy. The results of our review indicate that consistent effort is still required to define additional indices to quantify social acceptance of robots and improve their design in this perspective.