Collaborative welding robots and their impact on welders’ work experience in the UK
通过访谈和民族志观察，研究了英国焊工在引入协作焊接机器人后的工作满意度、职业身份、社会互动及职业前景变化，发现体验因人而异，既有安全改善和声望提升，也有身份焦虑和被替代的担忧。
This article investigates the job satisfaction and working conditions responses of welders after the implementation of collaborative welding robots in their workplaces. Through semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations at three sites, it explores themes such as pay, prestige, professional identity, social interaction at work and career prospects. Our research suggests that working experiences and responses to the robot are highly varied among welders, and many individuals were ambivalent about the new technology. We found evidence of improved work experiences, such as improvement in occupation safety, offloading repetitive tasks and the social prestige related to working with a robot, but also drawbacks and anxiety surrounding the adoption, change in professional identity and the possibility of being replaced by robots in the future. Building on previous literature on automation and job displacement, especially on the impact of new technologies on blue-collar workers, we broaden academic debates from questions surrounding labour replacement to delimiting contexts where new technologies enable the retention of workers and the creation of more meaningful work.