Should robots or people do these jobs? A survey of robotics experts and non-experts about which jobs robots should do

This study builds upon previous work regarding people´s attitudes toward robot workers, identifying the characteristics of occupations for which people believe robots are qualified and desired. This research updates prior research and adds a new dimension of respondent expertise in the domain of robotics (N=392, which includes 134 robotics experts and 258 non-experts). We deployed a web-based survey that asked respondents about their attitudes toward robots´ suitability for a variety of jobs (n=812) from the U.S. Department of Labor´s O*NET occupational information database. There were different responses from experts and non-experts about what types of jobs robots: (a) could, but should not do and (b) should, but could not do. Implications for the robotics community are discussed.