In a study focusing on the human-machine relationship in the workplace, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found that people would rather be given assignments from robots than from their human boss.
The study was done by a team of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), who discovered that in a situation where two humans and one robot work together on an assignment, the human prefer the robot to be in charge, according to Tech Times.
The goal of the project was to show that giving robots control doesn't mean they are in charge of the workplace. Instead, robots are given the role of assigning and organizing tasks given to workers.
The team put together groups that consisted of two humans and one robot, and then had them work in three different conditions, Engadget reported. The first had a human assign tasks, the second had the robot assign tasks, and the third had one human give himself tasks and the robot give tasks to the other human.
The results showed that when the robot was in charge, the group completed the assignments more efficiently and also preferred that situation, saying the robots "better understood them."
While manufacturers view robots as a way to make work easier for humans and increase productivity, they also fear that it will result in workers feeling devalued when compared to their mechanical co-workers, Tech Times reported. Matthew Gombolay, PhD student at CSAIL and leader of the study, said the goal of the research is to find a place where human workers were both happy with their rolls and productive at the same time.
"We discovered that the answer is to actually give machines more autonomy, if it helps people to work together more fluently with robot teammates," Gombolay said.
The team was able to confirm the hypothesis that efficiency is affected by automation, finding that workers don't want to be concerned about small management decisions while doing their jobs.
Gombolay said these arrangements in which robots give humans assignments could provide alternate schedules in case something goes wrong, Engadget reported. He added that having humans and robots working together could be useful for other scenarios in the future, such as search-and-rescue missions and construction.
