Agricultural robots are often designed with technology and business priorities in mind but what about the workers? STAI CDT PhD student Muhammad Malik and his co-authors’ paper, ‘Harvesting Perspectives: A Worker-Centred Inquiry into the Future of Fruit-Picking Farm Robots’ examines how fruit-picking farm workers feel about robots that are being introduced into agriculture.
As Muhammad explains, “The people who are most affected by agricultural robotics, the workers, many of whom are migrants or seasonal labourers, are rarely heard and their voices are often absent from the design processes.
To address this gap, we designed a user study and conducted interviews with farm workers in the UK to understand their perspectives about privacy, safety, Inclusivity, fairness, and how robots might change their daily work/lives. Workers described difficult and sometimes unsafe working conditions, experiences of discrimination, harassment, worries about increased surveillance, and concerns about losing the sense of camaraderie which is so important in their line of work. At the same time they shared positive visions for how robots could help, such as reducing heavy lifting, spotting hazards, assisting in emergencies, or even helping to ensure fairer treatment from managers”.
This research is important for the general public because robotics in agriculture directly affects labour rights, and the safety and dignity of the people who work incredibly hard to make a living.
Muhammad emphasises the broader implications of listening to workers: “By centering workers’ voices, this study contributes to more ethical, human-focused AI and robotics design that prioritises safety, dignity, and fairness, helping ensure future farm robots uplift workers rather than harm or disadvantage them”.
Muhammad presented the paper at the International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2025) conference in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where the worker-centered approach resonated strongly with the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) community. Muhammad’s highlight was, “hearing how many attendees emphasised the importance of including marginalised groups in robotics design, something that is often overlooked in technical fields”.
Muhammad found Eindhoven a vibrant and welcoming city to explore. Reflecting on the conference, his key takeaway was, “the growing recognition that roboticists must consider social justice, not just engineering performance”.
This paper forms a major part of Muhammad’s PhD research, which focuses on inclusive approaches to robotics and the safe, trusted, and socially responsible integration of AI for groups experiencing epistemic injustice or underrepresentation. The worker perspectives gathered through this study have been invaluable. “These insights directly inform the next stage of my research,” Muhammad explains. His upcoming work involves running simulations to test a subset of the worker-centered visions identified in this study, as well as from another user study on warehouse robots currently under review.
Muhammad has found his PhD journey really positive so far. He says, “As an international student from the global south (South Asia), I have learned so much (and continue to learn every day) and I am grateful for the supportive environment within the STAI CDT. Being part of a community of brilliant minds and having the opportunity to work on research with real-world impact has been incredibly inspiring”.
What has resonated most deeply with Muhammad is the human element of his research. “Engaging directly with workers, hearing their stories, and seeing how research can amplify marginalized voices has been particularly meaningful for me,” he shares.
Looking ahead, Muhammad expresses his appreciation for the CDT’s ethos: “I am grateful to the CDT for supporting this research and for encouraging work that places societal impact at its core”.
We look forward to hearing more about how Muhammad’s research develops.
You can find the full paper here: Malik, M. A. B., Brandão, M., & Coopamootoo, K. (2025). Harvesting Perspectives: A Worker-Centered Inquiry into the Future of Fruit-Picking Farm Robots. In Proceedings of the 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2025).