Working with robots could make us less conscientious, researchers find

Workers put in less effort if they think their contribution will be overshadowed by that of a robot. — AFP Relaxnews

There is much speculation about the effects of automation on the world of work. The introduction of robots certainly represents a potential gain in productivity for companies, but recent research from Germany suggests that autonomous machines won't necessarily make humans more efficient – quite the contrary, in fact.

A trio of researchers from the Technical University of Berlin devised an experiment to determine whether workers put in less effort if they think their individual contribution will be overshadowed by that of a robot. To do this, they asked 42 volunteers to examine images of electronic circuits for potential errors. They warned them that a computer would be monitoring their work.