Episode Twenty-Two: Iveta Eimontaite
Dr. Iveta Eimontaite, a lecturer in human factors and cognitive psychology at Cranfield University, discusses the psychological aspects of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in industrial and social settings. She explains how physiological measures like heart rate and skin conductance reveal user stress and comfort levels that self-reported data often misses. Eimontaite highlights the importance of managing workforce expectations to prevent disillusionment when collaborative robots are introduced into manufacturing workflows. She also notes the tendency for humans to anthropomorphize robots, requiring designers to account for emotional reactions in both domestic and industrial contexts.