Towards a Participatory and Social Justice-Oriented Measure of Human-Robot Trust

TL;DR

The paper addresses the problem that existing human-robot trust measures overlook inequity and power structures in HRI research. It proposes a participatory design approach integrated with a social justice framework to co-design trust measures with the communities that will be impacted by robotic systems. The method involves iterative cycles of community-driven attribute identification, empirical evaluation after interactions, and qualitative validation to ensure relevance and reduce bias. This approach aims to produce context-specific, culturally competent trust measures and aligns with broader calls for equitable HRI, potentially mitigating harms and biases in deployment.

Abstract

Many measures of human-robot trust have proliferated across the HRI research literature because each attempts to capture the factors that impact trust despite its many dimensions. None of the previous trust measures, however, address the systems of inequity and structures of power present in HRI research or attempt to counteract the systematic biases and potential harms caused by HRI systems. This position paper proposes a participatory and social justice-oriented approach for the design and evaluation of a trust measure. This proposed process would iteratively co-design the trust measure with the community for whom the HRI system is being created. The process would prioritize that community's needs and unique circumstances to produce a trust measure that accurately reflects the factors that impact their trust in a robot.