This article reviews recent work on advanced robotic systems in the medical field, with a focus on implications for occupational safety and health.The Human Health and Social Activities sector is currently the research field with the highest activity when it comes to the topic of human-robot interaction. The technology holds the potential to impact occupational safety and health for medical workers. Based on an extensive literature review we categorize and analyze the current research activity in the healthcare sector. This includes a mapping of the type of robotic system used, what tasks are automated, how tasks and jobs are transformed and the possible OSH impact occurs. We identify trends and gaps in research and derive recommendations for the implementation of robotic system in the sector. A total of 13 relevant meta-analysis and systematic reviews were selected and analyzed. The results show a strong focus on the automation of person related tasks via socially assistive robots. Secondly, robotic systems for rehabilitation and mobility are highly present in the sample. The OSH impacts are predominantly psychosocial or organizational. However, there are significant research gaps when it comes ergonomic impact on the medical personal. Our results can be used to guide new research and to design and implement robotic systems with a human centered approach.

Flexible robotic systems change not only the production workflow as a whole but also the individual working conditions of their operators. The aim of this analysis of our study with more than 5900 participants was to get an overview of demographics, job characteristics, and health indicators of robot operators in comparison to nonrobotic machine operators and employees in Germany. We collected data by telephone interviews measuring technology use, stressors, and resources at work as well as health indicators. Results indicate systematic differences in working stressors and resources for robot users compared to other machine users as well as employees in general. In particular, the scope for decision-making at work was smaller for robot users, especially regarding the amount of work or the speed of work. Only isolated links could be found regarding the health indicators. The results therefore imply constant consideration of human factors to ensure productive as well as healthy working conditions with robots in modern industry.

This paper presents the development and validation process of a robot specific usability questionnaire based on the DIN EN ISO 9241-110:2020-10.Robotic systems are increasingly prevalent in different work domains and allow new forms of interaction between robot and worker. Usability plays an important role for the interaction quality. The IsoMetrics Usability Questionnaire is an established survey instrument for the user-centered usability assessment of interactive systems. It is based on seven principles for the ergonomic design of interactive systems in the DIN EN ISO standard 9241-110. In 2020, a new version of the standard was published, which changed the norm regarding content and structure. Hence, at this time no robot specific instrument exists that represents the norm accurately.An initial item pool of 100 robot specific items was assessed in a video-based online study. Exploratory factor analysis showed a ten-factorial structure, closely representing the interaction principles. Confirmatory factor analysis could not replicate these results. To test the construct validity, convergent and divergent constructs were evaluated with mixed results.The questionnaire in its preliminary form has high content validity, and indicates that the DIN EN ISO standard can be used as a basis for a questionnaire suitable to evaluate usability in robotic systems. However, further research is needed to identify reasons for the deviating results of the confirmatory factor analysis.