The British seem more worried about robots than anybody else

British adults are more anxious about robots than people in any other major economy, according to a new global study which suggests the unease may stem from a lack of exposure to the technology in everyday life. The research, published by technology firm Hexagon, is based on a survey 18,000 people across nine countries for its Robot Generation report. It found that 52 percent of adults in the UK say they worry something might go wrong when they think about interacting with robots. The global average is 42 percent, while in South Korea the figure is just 29 percent.

The UK also ranks lowest for direct experience of robots. Only 30 percent of British adults say they have seen or used a robot in real life. In Germany the figure is 38 percent, while in China it reaches 75 percent.

The findings suggest a link between familiarity and confidence. Countries where robots are more visible in daily life tend to report lower levels of anxiety. Discomfort is particularly evident in domestic settings. In the UK, 39 percent of adults say they would feel uncomfortable interacting with a robot at home, compared with 32 percent who say they would be comfortable. In the United States the balance is reversed, with 43 percent comfortable and 32 percent uncomfortable. In India, Brazil and China, more than 60 percent of respondents say they would be comfortable having robots in their homes.

Burkhard Boeckem, chief technology officer at Hexagon, said the research shows that attitudes to robotics are shaped by questions about where the technology should be used and what safeguards should exist.

He said confidence can fall when robots appear in everyday settings before issues such as governance, human oversight and safety controls are clearly established. According to Boeckem, organisations may find it easier to build trust by deploying robots in roles where their benefits are more obvious, such as hazardous inspections, heavy lifting and other physically demanding tasks.

Industrial settings are currently the environment where people are most comfortable with robots. Across all markets surveyed, 63 percent of adults say they would feel comfortable interacting with robots in factories and warehouses. This compares with 46 percent who say the same about robots in the home.

In the UK, however, comfort levels remain lower than the global average. Just 53 percent say they would feel comfortable with robots in industrial environments, around ten points below the global figure.

The study also examined attitudes to the impact of robotics on work. Half of respondents globally say the main advantages of robots are increased productivity and speed, cited by 51 percent, and improved safety through the automation of dangerous tasks, cited by 50 percent.

Concerns about job losses are common but not dominant. While 41 percent of adults say they worry robots could replace human workers, the most frequently cited concern is security. More than half of UK adults, 53 percent, say their main worry about robots in the workplace is that they could be hacked or misused. Across the global sample, 51 percent say they fear robots could be hacked and 41 percent worry about malfunctions or direct harm caused by machines.

Michael Szollosy, a research fellow in robotics, said that attitudes can shift quickly once people encounter robots directly. According to Szollosy, initial fears often diminish when people interact with smaller or more familiar forms of robotics.

He said that scientists and engineers have a responsibility to explain the purpose of robotic technologies and how they are intended to be used, arguing that a lack of explanation can allow negative narratives to take hold.

Technology ethicist Dr Blay Whitby said that robots could improve working conditions by taking on unpleasant or hazardous tasks, but that automation does not remove the need for human involvement. Even highly automated systems, he said, still require human oversight, suggesting that the long term challenge will be learning how people and machines work together rather than replacing one with the other.