Hybrid Work for Industrial Workers: Challenges and Opportunities in using Collaborative Robots

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted how work is conducted, shifting many jobs to a hybrid nature with an emphasis on work-from-home. This shift has, however, not affected all job types equally. In this position paper, we argue that the advancement of collaborative robots in the industrial setting presents a unique and underexplored opportunity for robot-supported hybrid work in the industrial setting. We present five challenges that act as contributing factors that stifle access to hybrid work opportunities in the industrial context. These point to (i) the need for spacial awareness of both the robot and its surroundings, (ii) the, at times, need for physical presence for breakdown intervention and recovery, (iii) the need for contextual awareness, (iv) the need for additional employee training, and (v) a clear interface to map the varying degrees of freedom to a remote interface. We present future research opportunities with the potential to address some of the presented challenges.