Swift Trust in Mobile Ad Hoc Human-Robot Teams

TL;DR

Exploratory analysis is performed of a variety of data, including communications and performance logs, trust surveys and post-experiment interviews, toward understanding how autonomous systems can be designed into interdependent ad hoc human-robot teams where swift trust can be sustained.

Abstract

Integrating robots into teams of humans is anticipated to bring significant capability improvements for tasks such as searching potentially hazardous buildings. Trust between humans and robots is recognized as a key enabler for human-robot teaming (HRT) activity: if trust during a mission falls below sufficient levels for cooperative tasks to be completed, it could critically affect success. Changes in trust could be particularly problematic in teams that have formed on an ad hoc basis (as might be expected in emergency situations) where team members may not have previously worked together. In such ad hoc teams, a foundational level of 'swift trust' may be fragile and challenging to sustain in the face of inevitable setbacks. We present results of an experiment focused on understanding trust building, violation and repair processes in ad hoc teams (one human and two robots). Trust violation occurred through robots becoming unresponsive, with limited communication and feedback. We perform exploratory analysis of a variety of data, including communications and performance logs, trust surveys and post-experiment interviews, toward understanding how autonomous systems can be designed into interdependent ad hoc human-robot teams where swift trust can be sustained.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: Ad hoc trust in human-robot teams: experiment process.
• Figure 2: Participant age and education ($N=22$, 10 men and 12 women; prior robotics experience was mostly 'none' (15 or 68%) and the rest 'limited' (7 or 32%)).
• Figure 3: The experimental workspace, with starting position of participant and two robots (red and blue) shown.
• Figure 4: Left: The participant and robot starting locations and orientations. The participants wore a white hard hat with tracking beacons and which resembled a firefighter protective gear. Right: The human-robot tablet interface. There are buttons to choose which robot to communicate with (red or blue) and options 'Camera' (to switch to scan mode) and 'I need help' to call the chosen robot over for a joint task.
• Figure 5: A wide view of the experimental work space from the start location. The space was around 12$\times$18 m at its widest extent and around 200 sq m.