Dear Colleagues,

Industrial, service and social robots are foreseen to become significant “partners” or “co-workers” (Krüger and Surdilovic, 2008; Krüger, Schreck and Surdilovic, 2011; Kim and Mutlu, 2014) [1–3] in human working environments. The increasing expectation of implementing robots in manifold working processes is expressed not only by public debates but also by the orientation of national and international policy strategies (Ebel, 1987; Hägele, Schaaf and Helms, 2002; Krüger, Lien and Verl, 2009) [4–6]. We invite theoretical and empirical papers and case studies that critically engage with the areas of human-robot interaction in work environments and the impact of robots on the work environment. Within the area of human-robot interaction in work environments (whether human worker-robot worker or human client-robot worker, or human worker-robot client), potential areas of engagement can concern, as examples, how industrial, service, and social robots are represented by engineering sciences and social sciences; the idea of a sustainable concept of “work”; how the application of robots is changing the character of work in specific fields; new developments and impacts of automation; the impacts on complex working systems; the anthropocentric dimension of human-machine interfaces; and long-term perspectives of organizational, social, and ethical implications.

Prof. Dr. António B. Moniz
Dr. Bettina-Johanna Krings
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

References:

1.   Krüger, J.; Surdilovic, D. Robust control of force-coupled human-robot-interaction in assembly processes. CIRP Annals—Manuf. Technol. 2008, 57, 41–44.
2.   Krüger, J.; Schreck, G.; Surdilovic, D. Dual arm robot for flexible and cooperative assembly. CIRP Annals—Manuf. Technol. 2011, 60, 5–8.
3.   Kim, Y.; Mutlu, B. How social distance shapes human–robot interaction. Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud. 2014, 72, 783–795.
4.   Ebel, K.-H. The impact of industrial robots on the world of work. Robotics 1987, 3, 65–72.
5.   Hägele, M.; Schaaf, W.; Helms, E. Robot assistants at manual workplaces: Effective co-operation and safety aspects. In Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Robotics (ISR 2002), Stockholm, Sweden, 7–11 October 2002; pp. 1–6.
6.   Krüger, J.; Lien, T.; Verl, A. Cooperation of human and machines in assembly lines. CIRP Annals—Manuf. Technol. 2009, 2, 628–646.

• robotics
• automation
• human-robot interaction
• work organisation
• technology assessment
• social theories