Toward acceptance of human‑robot collaboration in industrial settings: a bibliometric and systematic literature review

Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is paramount to move toward efficient and sustainable manufacturing systems. Nonetheless, the successful integration of collaborative robots (cobots) in workplaces strongly depends on workers’ acceptance, which is affected by a complex set of individual, organizational and technical factors. As a result, understanding these factors is crucial to ensure effective cobots implementation into industrial environments while ensuring the workers well-being and safety. To this aim, a bibliometric analysis and a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) are carried out in this paper to provide a comprehensive overview of key perceived benefits and concerns influencing the workers’ acceptance of cobots in industrial settings. The most researched topics, and the possible future research directions are identified. In line with the Industry 5.0 paradigm, the reviewed articles highlight the central role of adaptive systems, human-centered design principles, and standardized safety protocols. Physical and cognitive ergonomic factors emerge as essential, while tailored communication methods are shown to significantly impact the worker attitude toward cobots. Furthermore, the integration of virtual reality tools for design optimization and immersive worker training environments seems to be highly promising to mitigate safety concerns and improve familiarity prior implementation.