Measuring Trust for Exoskeleton Systems

TL;DR

This paper addresses measuring trust for exoskeletons, a wearable robotic platform with tight human-robot coupling that can mislead user actions if trust is miscalibrated. It surveys existing trust attributes and proposes exoskeleton-specific attributes for user perception and direct measures, linking them to the Purpose, Process, and Performance dimensions. It also discusses validity concerns (content and construct validity) and argues for a multi-attribute approach rather than a single composite score, including surrogate measures like gait biomechanics and gaze metrics. The work aims to enable interpretable, task- and environment-sensitive trust measurements that inform design and deployment of exoskeletons.

Abstract

Wearable robotic systems are a class of robots that have a tight coupling between human and robot movements. Similar to non-wearable robots, it is important to measure the trust a person has that the robot can support achieving the desired goals. While some measures of trust may apply to all potential robotic roles, there are key distinctions between wearable and non-wearable robotic systems. In this paper, we considered the dimensions and sub-dimensions of trust, with example attributes defined for exoskeleton applications. As the research community comes together to discuss measures of trust, it will be important to consider how the selected measures support interpreting trust along different dimensions for the variety of robotic systems that are emerging in the field in a way that leads to actionable outcomes.