Robots in Time: How User Experience in Human-Robot Interaction Changes over Time

This paper describes a User Experience (UX) study on industrial robots in the context of a semiconductor factory cleanroom. We accompanied the deployment of a new robotic arm, without a safety fence, over one and a half years. Within our study, we explored if there is a UX difference between robots which have been used for more than 10 years within a safety fence (type A robot) and a newly deployed robot without fence (type B robot). Further, we investigated if the UX ratings change over time. The departments of interest were the oven (type A robots), the etching (type B robot), and the implantation department (type B robot). To observe experience changes over time, a UX questionnaire was developed and distributed to the operators at three defined points in time within these departments. The first survey was conducted one week after the deployment of robot B (n=23), the second survey was deployed six months later (n=21), and the third survey was distributed one and a half years later (n=23). Our results show an increasing positive UX towards the newly deployed robots with progressing time, which partly aligns with the UX ratings of the robots in safety fences. However, this effect seems to fade after one year. We further found that the UX ratings for all scales for the established robots were stable at all three points in time.