Marieke van den Tooren
Papers
1
Total Citations
9
H-Index
1
About
Marieke van den Tooren is a leading researcher in the psychology of human-robot collaboration, with a focus on how automation reshapes workplace well-being and performance. Her work centers on the cognitive and emotional demands of working alongside collaborative robots, particularly in logistics and warehouse environments. In her highly cited 2024 experimental study, van den Tooren demonstrated that while Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) can streamline operations, they also risk inducing boredom and reducing performance when employees perceive a loss of autonomy or control. By systematically examining the interplay between workload and autonomy, she revealed that simply offloading physical tasks to robots can create a "robotised" experience that undermines worker engagement. Her findings have direct implications for the ethical design of Industry 4.0 workplaces, urging managers to balance automation with meaningful human agency. With 9 citations in just its first year, this study has already sparked critical conversations in human factors engineering and organizational psychology. Van den Tooren’s research is essential reading for anyone designing or implementing collaborative automation, as it challenges the assumption that efficiency gains alone justify robotic integration without considering the human operator’s experience.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
- 1