Extended Reality in Human-Robot Collaboration: Present and Future
PUBLICATION DATE: 12 December, 2025 PUBLICATION AUTHOR/S: Liu, Yuan, Caldwell, Glenda, Belek Fialho Teixeira, Müge, Rittenbruch, Markus, Burden, Alan, & Guertler, MatthiasIn the rapidly evolving realm of industrial automation and digital interaction, integrating Extended Reality (XR) technologies into Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) offers unique opportunities and challenges. This chapter examines XR’s role in HRC, emphasising its ability to overcome adoption barriers and enhance cognitive workload, safety, and decision-making across various industries. By combining theoretical exploration with a critical analysis of existing studies, this chapter aims to reveal how XR can enhance abilities of human operators, ultimately improving collaboration between humans and robots. This investigation focuses on the dual role of XR approaches in Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC). These approaches not only enhance collaboration during tasks but also serve as a comprehensive methodology that encompasses procedures before, during, and after tasks in HRC. The findings in this chapter highlight the diverse applications of XR technologies in HRC, including their use as tools for visualisation, development environments, instruction and guidance, learning environments, platforms for evaluation, task and motion planning, simulation, data collection instruments, design platforms, and telepresence. Furthermore, this chapter contributes to the ongoing discussion on the future of work by providing a comprehensive guide to the roles of XR in HRC and offering insights into trends in XR technologies, including hardware and software. By doing so, it emphasises the importance of integrating advanced XR technologies with human-centric design to enhance human-robot collaboration.
RELATED PROGRAM/S:Designing Socio-technical Robotic Systems Program based at QUT Publication link
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