SynthesisScientific reports2026
The effect of a robot's presence on human task performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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4 authors.
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Abstract
This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to quantify the overall effect of robot presence on human cognitive task performance and to examine the moderating roles of two key characteristics: interactive capability and anthropomorphic morphology. A total of 10 studies were included for synthesis. We used the standardized mean difference (SMD) to assess task time efficiency (9 studies, n=540) and task accuracy (4 studies, n=129). The meta-analysis results showed no significant overall net effect of robot presence on either task time efficiency or accuracy. However, subgroup analyses revealed a significant differential pattern for task time efficiency: interactive robots were associated with improved efficiency (SMD = -0.31, P=0.03) while non-interactive robots showed the opposite (SMD = 0.22, P=0.009); additionally, non-anthropomorphic robots were associated with decreased efficiency (SMD = 0.47, P=0.0003).These findings indicate that robot presence does not have a uniform impact on human performance; rather, the direction of its effect is bidirectionally moderated by robot characteristics. In particular, interactive capability plays a crucial role in determining whether robots facilitate or inhibit task efficiency, which underscores the importance of designing robot social roles and behaviors in future human-robot collaboration.
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