Description

As a key contributor to its digital transformation, the construction sector is utilizing the opportunities provided by collaborative robots (also known as cobots) to evaluate various automation scenarios on the job sites. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cobots are predicted to predominate within the construction sector in the future. Despite the fact that the construction sector has made significant progress in adopting digital technologies, the black-box nature of AI and the undetermined technical and psychological implications of bringing cobots to job sites provide unprecedented trust issues. The authors' most recent research study identified the crucial aspects of trustworthy AI-powered cobots (hereafter AI cobots) used in construction. The next phase of the research study involved semi-structured interviews with 11 experts, including technology experts and end users, to gain their understanding, experience with, and insight into the drivers and barriers of the adoption of artificial intelligence robots in the construction industry. These targeted interviews were conducted to identify and categorize the trust elements. Grounded theory was utilized to evaluate the interviews, and Nvivo was employed to code the transcriptions, investigate patterns, and generate theories. The results of the analyzes based on the interviews led us to the creation of new hypotheses/constructs about the effective factors in building trust between the worker and these cobots. This prompted us to create and publish a more comprehensive nationwide survey/questionnaire. The survey was completed by approximately 400 participants working in the field of construction and then Structural Equation Model (SEM) was deployed to analyze the responses and test the relationships between trust level and trust element, and also the relationship between trust elements themselves. The findings showed that field experts do indeed value the major trust variables indicated in our prior literature review and studies.