Swift Trust in Mobile Ad Hoc Human-Robot Teams

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.