Is augmented reality ready for the warehouse? a comparative study of user acceptance in human-robot collaborative order fulfillment

Abstract

E-commerce has grown rapidly, but high return rates pose economic and environmental challenges, with fulfillment errors as a key factor. While augmented reality (AR) has the potential to reduce such errors, the adoption of this technology in SMEs remains limited. With inputs from our recently conducted survey of SME employees across 17 European countries, we developed an AR-based order fulfillment system to investigate the ecological validity of this technology in the warehouse. For validation, we conducted an empirical user acceptance study comparing AR-based and paper-based approaches in a human–robot collaborative order fulfillment system. Results indicate a strong interest in AR, with significant increases in perceived enjoyment and social influence. Positively, AR does not lead to a higher level of anxiety. However, the paper-based method demonstrated higher scores for task completion time and intention to use. Findings highlight the potential of AR in the warehouse, but also the need for improved interfaces and hardware to enable broader adoption.