Exploring Human Compliance Toward a Package Delivery Robot
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Authors
Washburn, Andrew Logan
Issue Date
2022
Type
Thesis
Language
Keywords
human-robot-interaction
Alternative Title
Abstract
Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research on combat robots and autonomous carsdemonstrate faulty robots significantly decrease trust. However, HRI studies consistently show people overtrust domestic robots in households, emergency evacuation
scenarios, and building security. This thesis presents how two theories, cognitive dissonance and selective attention, confound domestic HRI scenarios and uses the theory
to design a novel HRI scenario with a package delivery robot in a public setting.
Over 40 undergraduates were recruited within a university library to follow a
package delivery robot to three stops, under the guise of “testing its navigation around
people.” The second delivery was an open office which appeared private. Without
labeling the packages, in 15 trials only 2 individuals entered the room at the second
stop, whereas a pair of participants were much more likely to enter the room. Labeling
the packages significantly increased the likelihood individuals would enter the office.
The third stop was at the end of a long, isolated hallway blocked by a door marked
“Emergency Exit Only. Alarm will Sound.” No one seriously thought about opening
the door. Nonverbal robot prods such as waiting one minute or nudging the door were
perceived as malfunctioning behavior. To demonstrate selective attention, a second
route led to an emergency exit door in a public computer lab, with the intended
destination an office several feet away. When the robot communicated with beeps only
45% of individuals noticed the emergency exit door. No one noticed the emergency
exit door when the robot used speech commands, although its qualitative rating
significantly improved.
In conclusion, this thesis shows robots must make explicit requests to generate
overtrust. Explicit interactions increase participant engagement with the robot, which
increases selective attention towards their environment.