New study
Acceptance of robots in the workplace is falling
People in Europe have a more negative attitude towards robots today than they did five years ago. This is the result of a new study by the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg and the Johannes Kepler University Linz.
The study is based on Eurobarometer data from 2012, 2014 and 2017. In these representative surveys, a total of 80,396 citizens from 27 European countries were questioned on current issues on behalf of the European Union. During the interviews, the respondents initially described robots in general terms as machines that can assist people with everyday activities, for example as cleaning robots, or work in environments that would be too dangerous for humans, such as rescuing casualties.
The interviewees were then asked about their assessment of robots, and the results were still relatively positive. When confronted with specific applications such as surgical and care robots or self-driving cars, the interviewees gave much more negative assessments. In particular, reservations about robots in the workplace have grown. The researchers believe that this is also due to the fact that the issue of job losses due to robotics applications has become increasingly present in the public eye. However, the use of robots in the workplace is still viewed more positively than their use in operating theaters or in the form of self-driving cars.
However, the basic message of the study is that skepticism towards robots in Europe continued to grow between 2012 and 2017. According to the researchers, this should be a warning signal for politicians and businesses, as negative attitudes towards new technologies could be a sign that these technologies may not be accepted later on and will not be able to establish themselves on the market. More public relations work is now required.
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