Human–Robot Interaction in the Era of Intelligent Automation – Economic Implications, Technical Enablers, and Collaborative Value Creation: A Review

This article examines the evolving landscape of Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) in the era of intelligent automation, with a dual focus on the technical enablers that shape contemporary robotic systems and the economic implications arising from their large-scale adoption. Building on an interdisciplinary corpus of recent literature (2023–2025), the paper synthesizes advances in collaborative robotics, multimodal sensing, edge and cloud intelligence, digital twins, adaptive control, reinforcement learning, and large language model–driven interaction frameworks. These developments redefine the boundaries of autonomy, safety, and shared decision-making in human–robot collaborative environments. From an economic perspective, the review evaluates how HRI reshapes productivity, labor allocation, skill requirements, and value distribution across sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, education, and domestic services. Further-more, the paper proposes a conceptual model of collaborative value creation, highlighting new mechanisms for shared productivity gains, ecosystem complementarities, and socio-technical governance. Key challenges—ranging from regulatory uncertainty and accountability gaps to workforce transitions and ethical constraints—are discussed in connection with design decisions for future HRI systems. The final section is dedicated to outlining strategic directions for integrating the technical, economic, and governance dimensions into next-generation human–robot interaction, providing a foundation for sustainable and human-centered implementation within Industry 5.0.