Usabilidade percebida e aceitação social de robôs sociais assistivos na agricultura 5.0: um estudo exploratório na cafeicultura do sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Brazilian coffee farming plays a fundamental role in the livelihood of small, medium, and large rural producers, positioning Brazil as the world’s largest coffee producer and one of the main exporters of the bean. Simultaneously, agriculture has undergone significant structural transformations, marked, among other factors, by the growing scarcity of labor in rural areas and the pronounced aging of the agricultural population, especially among small producers. In this context, it is observed that studies focused on the application of Assistive Social Robotics as a form of support for agricultural activities are still little explored in the state of the art, particularly in the field of coffee farming. Given this gap, this research aims to investigate the level of social acceptance and usability perceived by coffee producers in the southern region of the state of Minas Gerais regarding the use of a quadruped social robot. To this end, the perceptions of coffee growers are analyzed based on exposure to a prototype presented in video format, representing an assistive social robot with quadruped morphology. Thus, the study seeks to contribute to the introduction of Agriculture 5.0 principles in coffee farming, providing empirical evidence on the interaction between rural producers and social robotic technologies, as well as subsidies for the development of technological solutions more aligned with the needs and characteristics of the aging agricultural population.