ABSTRACT The selective migration of young people to urban centres has resulted in an ageing workforce within the Brazilian coffee sector, creating a growing demand for solutions that aid producers in crop management routines. Coffee production, the fourth largest in terms of gross national agricultural revenue, can benefit from technological support. In this context, this research investigates social perceptions of a prototype of social robots by agricultural producers. The study involved a sample of 28 rural producers and stakeholders, stratified by age into two independent groups: 18–49 years () and 50+ years (). Participants evaluated the robot using the Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS), enabling a detailed look at social perceptions. The analysis yielded four distinct user profiles: (1) Engaged Supporters, (2) Pragmatic Users, (3) Innovation Sceptics and (4) Confident Adopters. Furthermore, correlation analysis highlighted strong links between perceived social attributes (e.g., high correlation between trustworthy and competent). Crucially, non‐parametric testing revealed a statistically significant difference across age groups regarding the robot's perceived organic nature (). These findings indicate a clear generational shift in social robot acceptance, underscoring the need for age‐sensitive design in future assistive robotics for agriculture.
Silva et al. (2026) studied this question.