IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/srbeha/v40y2023i3p536-551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transitioning towards human–robot synergy in agriculture: A systems thinking perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Eirini Aivazidou
  • Naoum Tsolakis

Abstract

Digital transformation has unveiled new prospects for increased performance and productivity in the agricultural sector to meet rising food security needs. Continuous industrialization and unexpected disruptions (e.g., workforce mobility restrictions due to the COVID‐19 pandemic) call for the adoption of agricultural robots. However, automated solutions could be associated with societal challenges in rural areas; unemployment growth has been perceived as a major threat that jeopardizes societal welfare, potentially hindering the implementation of digital technologies. In this context, human–robot synergistic systems could act as a promising socially viable alternative. Through systems thinking, this research investigates the complex interconnections and key feedback mechanisms of automation diffusion (conventional and human–robot interactive) under the socio‐economic perceptions (drivers and barriers) of agribusinesses and rural communities. Overall, this study contributes towards eliciting the mental models that underpin the transition from agricultural robots to human–robot collaboration by transforming automation‐related societal risks into opportunities for sustainable rural development.

Suggested Citation

  • Eirini Aivazidou & Naoum Tsolakis, 2023. "Transitioning towards human–robot synergy in agriculture: A systems thinking perspective," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 536-551, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:40:y:2023:i:3:p:536-551
    DOI: 10.1002/sres.2887
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2887
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sres.2887?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lioutas, Evagelos D. & Charatsari, Chrysanthi & De Rosa, Marcello, 2021. "Digitalization of agriculture: A way to solve the food problem or a trolley dilemma?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Cockshott, Paul & Renaud, Karen, 2016. "Humans, robots and values," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 19-28.
    3. Shang, Linmei & Heckelei, Thomas & Gerullis, Maria K. & Börner, Jan & Rasch, Sebastian, 2021. "Adoption and diffusion of digital farming technologies - integrating farm-level evidence and system interaction," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    4. Ghimire, Ramesh & Skinner, Jim & Carnathan, Mike, 2020. "Who perceived automation as a threat to their jobs in metro Atlanta: Results from the 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Friedrich Rübcke von Veltheim & Heinke Heise, 2020. "The AgTech Startup Perspective to Farmers Ex Ante Acceptance Process of Autonomous Field Robots," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Lalani, Baqir & Aminpour, Payam & Gray, Steven & Williams, Meredith & Büchi, Lucie & Haggar, Jeremy & Grabowski, Philip & Dambiro, José, 2021. "Mapping farmer perceptions, Conservation Agriculture practices and on-farm measurements: The role of systems thinking in the process of adoption," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    8. Arega Alene & V. Manyong, 2007. "The effects of education on agricultural productivity under traditional and improved technology in northern Nigeria: an endogenous switching regression analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 141-159, April.
    9. Morecroft, John D. W., 1992. "Executive knowledge, models and learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 9-27, May.
    10. Ricciardi, Francesca & De Bernardi, Paola & Cantino, Valter, 2020. "System dynamics modeling as a circular process: The smart commons approach to impact management," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    11. Jaafar, Hadi & Kharroubi, Samer A., 2021. "Views, practices and knowledge of farmers regarding smart irrigation apps: A national cross-sectional study in Lebanon," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    12. Nissim, Gadi & Simon, Tomer, 2021. "The future of labor unions in the age of automation and at the dawn of AI," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    13. Kernecker, Maria & Seufert, Verena & Chapman, Mollie, 2021. "Farmer-centered ecological intensification: Using innovation characteristics to identify barriers and opportunities for a transition of agroecosystems towards sustainability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    14. Anthony King, 2017. "Technology: The Future of Agriculture," Nature, Nature, vol. 544(7651), pages 21-23, April.
    15. Daniele Sarri & Stefania Lombardo & Andrea Pagliai & Carolina Perna & Riccardo Lisci & Valentina De Pascale & Marco Rimediotti & Guido Cencini & Marco Vieri, 2020. "Smart Farming Introduction in Wine Farms: A Systematic Review and a New Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-26, September.
    16. Novakova, Lucia, 2020. "The impact of technology development on the future of the labour market in the Slovak Republic," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mirzaei Abbasabadi, Hamed & Soleimani, Mohammad, 2021. "Examining the effects of digital technology expansion on Unemployment: A cross-sectional investigation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Chigbu, Bianca Ifeoma & Nekhwevha, Fhulu H., 2021. "The future of work and uncertain labour alternatives as we live through the industrial age of possible singularity: Evidence from South Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Fernández Fernández, José Luis & Camacho Ibáñez, Javier & Díaz de la Cruz, Cristina & Gil, Bernardo Villazán, 2021. "How can ‘orare et laborare’ guide the person-technology relationship during the Fourth Industrial Revolution?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Rodríguez-Barillas, María & Klerkx, Laurens & Poortvliet, P. Marijn, 2024. "What determines the acceptance of Climate Smart Technologies? The influence of farmers' behavioral drivers in connection with the policy environment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    5. Nissim, Gadi & Simon, Tomer, 2021. "The future of labor unions in the age of automation and at the dawn of AI," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Anja Gaudig & Bernd Ebersberger & Andreas Kuckertz, 2021. "Sustainability-Oriented Macro Trends and Innovation Types—Exploring Different Organization Types Tackling the Global Sustainability Megatrend," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Focacci, Chiara Natalie, 2021. "Technological unemployment, robotisation, and green deal: A story of unstable spillovers in China and South Korea (2008–2018)," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. da Silveira, Franco & da Silva, Sabrina Letícia Couto & Machado, Filipe Molinar & Barbedo, Jayme Garcia Arnal & Amaral, Fernando Gonçalves, 2023. "Farmers' perception of the barriers that hinder the implementation of agriculture 4.0," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    9. Friedrich Rübcke von Veltheim & Heinke Heise, 2021. "German Farmers’ Attitudes on Adopting Autonomous Field Robots: An Empirical Survey," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Oscar Gutiérrez & Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda, 2011. "Real options with unknown-date events," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 171-198, May.
    11. Shari, Babajide Epe & Dioha, Michael O. & Abraham-Dukuma, Magnus C. & Sobanke, Victor O. & Emodi, Nnaemeka V., 2022. "Clean cooking energy transition in Nigeria: Policy implications for Developing countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 319-343.
    12. Cambier, Adrien & Chardy, Matthieu & Figueiredo, Rosa & Ouorou, Adam & Poss, Michael, 2022. "Optimizing subscriber migrations for a telecommunication operator in uncertain context," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(1), pages 308-321.
    13. Tambo, Justice A. & Wünscher, Tobias, 2016. "Beyond adoption: welfare effects of farmer innovation behavior in Ghana," Discussion Papers 235297, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    14. Tiruwork B. Tibebu & Eric Hittinger & Qing Miao & Eric Williams, 2024. "Adoption Model Choice Affects the Optimal Subsidy for Residential Solar," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, February.
    15. Simon P. Anderson & André de Palma, 2012. "Competition for attention in the Information (overload) Age," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 1-25, March.
    16. Alison Kennedy & Jessie Adams & Jeremy Dwyer & Muhammad Aziz Rahman & Susan Brumby, 2020. "Suicide in Rural Australia: Are Farming-Related Suicides Different?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, March.
    17. Van, Tien Linh Cao & Barthelmes, Lukas & Gnann, Till & Speth, Daniel & Kagerbauer, Martin, 2021. "Addressing the gaps in market diffusion modeling of electrical vehicles: A case study from Germany for the integration of environmental policy measures," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S05/2021, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    18. Ma, Peng, 2021. "Optimal generic and brand advertising efforts in a decentralized supply chain considering customer surplus," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    19. Sergio Currarini & Carmen Marchiori & Alessandro Tavoni, 2016. "Network Economics and the Environment: Insights and Perspectives," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(1), pages 159-189, September.
    20. Klingler, Anna-Lena & Luthander, Rasmus, 2018. "Market diffusion of residential PV and battery systems driven by self-consumption: A comparison of Sweden and Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S18/2018, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:40:y:2023:i:3:p:536-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/1092-7026 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.