Understanding Task Diversity in Human-Robot Collaboration: A Scoping Review

Collaborative tasks between humans and robots can vary widely regarding their specifics in terms of aspects such as task structure and complexity; yet this diversity appears to be rarely reflected upon in the field of human-robot collaboration (HRC). This scoping review addresses that gap by systematically analyzing 63 physical HRC scenarios drawn from relevant literature. Through inductive analysis, we identified five structured task types (Guiding, Pick & Place, Handover, Third Hand, and Co-Action) as well as two additional composite task types (Joint Manipulation and Mutually Exclusive Manipulation). Beyond providing structure, our categorization provides a practical reference for planning HRC studies and for selecting task types that align with the specific goals and context of the investigation. Overall, this work contributes a structured and extendable classification for understanding and analyzing collaborative tasks in HRC.