Analyzing Reluctance to Ask for Help When Cooperating With Robots: Insights to Integrate Artificial Agents in HRC

-- As robot technology advances, collaboration between humans and robots will become more prevalent in industrial tasks. When humans run into issues in such scenarios, a likely future involves relying on artificial agents or robots for aid. This study identifies key aspects for the design of future user-assisting agents. We analyze quantitative and qualitative data from a user study examining the impact of on-demand assistance received from a remote human in a human-robot collaboration (HRC) assembly task. We study scenarios in which users require help and we assess their experiences in requesting and receiving assistance. Additionally, we investigate participants' perceptions of future non-human assisting agents and whether assistance should be on-demand or unsolicited. Through a user study, we analyze the impact that such design decisions (human or artificial assistant, on-demand or unsolicited help) can have on elicited emotional responses, productivity, and preferences of humans engaged in HRC tasks. I. INTRODUCTION The increased availability of robot teammates (e.g., collaborative robots) will create work settings without human teammates, where assistance comes from artificial agents [1], [2]. While this shift can offer benefits like increased efficiency and safety, it also raises concerns. A lack of timely assistance can lead to task stagnation, increasing cognitive load and stress, which harm productivity and mental health [3]. Prolonged stress may even contribute to conditions like anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal illnesses [4], [5].