Stakeholder Perspectives on Safety Issues in Collaborative Mobile Robots: A Case Study of Quadruped Robot Applications in a Smart Factory

Abstract

With the development of Industry 4.0, collaborative mobile robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in industrial settings, raising important safety considerations in human-robot interaction environments. This study examines the safety issues in collaborative mobile robotics through a case study of a smart factory utilizing quadruped robots. This research aims to contribute to the development of safety management strategies by identifying potential risk factors and analyzing the differences in risk perception among stakeholders. A survey was conducted among 93 operators in the factory to identify the main risk factors, followed by a Delphi study with four groups of experts: robot operators, safety management experts, robot developers, and academic experts. The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze the statistical significance of differences in perception between the groups. The results showed that collision and deviation from the path were the most concerning risk factors. Significant differences were found in the perceptions of several hazards between expert groups, with academic experts rating most hazards highly while robot developers rated them relatively low. The findings highlight how background knowledge and experience influence risk perception in collaborative robotics. These varying perspectives should be considered when developing safety management strategies for mobile robots in industrial settings, suggesting the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and targeted educational programs.