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Can we build a trustworthy robot?

Could we trust a robot like we might trust a person? Would we forgive its mistakes if it meant well? And how would we be able to tell?Despite many recent advances in the field, robots are not yet sufficiently able to autonomously operate in complex social environments without a significant possibility of making errors. These errors made could affect people's interaction experiences, including trust towards and intentions to use the robot. Unfortunately, the leading means to explore trust towards robots aren't built to address these sorts of issues. This talk explores the problems encountered in developing social robots for human interaction through three parts 1) The conceptual issues of what it means to 'trust' in a robot and how the field is evolving 2) Our current work at Sheffield Robotics that explores trust through the creation of a mobile tour-guide 3) Interdisciplinary research and teaching under the watchword Neither PI Nor Funder.

Outcomes across our work supports enduring findings that people can interact with and regard robots, computers, and autonomous agents in a social capacity. Insight from human-human social interaction has perhaps surprisingly strong predictive value in how human-robot interaction could occur, even if the robot only offers rudimentary or passive social interaction. In terms of robots committing errors, we find that simple apologies delivered by a robot can positively affect people's intentions to use it, despite them expecting it to be less useful. Findings both indicate a need for addressing trust in robots as a social construct and a potential market for bumbling robotic assistants.

Dr David Cameron is a Lecturer in Human-Computer Interraction at The Information School. His research examines users’ experiences in their interaction with technology, particularly in terms of the user and autonomous systems as two agents in collaborative work towards shared goals.