Trust me: Trust in humanoid robots within the work context

Robots have been introduced into industrial working environments decades ago to execute tasks that were impossible or unreasonable for human workers. Robots are lifting heavy objects, do repetitious factory tasks and work under dangerous conditions. Due to technical advances, robots are evolving from specialized tools to independent agents, who can work together in collaboration with human employees. As robots and humans will increasingly work side by side, a theoretical ground for successful human-robot-collaboration is needed.
Considering human teams, it has been shown that trust is an important variable that defines the success of a collaboration. If a team consists of both humans and robots, an adaptation of the interpersonal trust term is needed.

Our project aims for a clearer view on how humans can trust a robot in the work environment and how they can work together successfully. To reach that goal, we will collaborate with humanoid robot Pepper (Softbank Robotics).
Our main research questions concern the following topics:
1. What does trust mean in the context of human-robot collaboration?
2. How can we measure and operationalize trust in human-robot collaboration?
3. Which factors influence trust in human-robot collaboration?
We plan on answering these questions through theoretical works and empirical studies.

Duration: 11/2019 – 11/2023

Funding: PBB Smart Regulation

Project leadership: Univ.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Bettina Kubicek

Doctoral candidate: Agnes Altmanninger, BSc. MSc.

Cooperation partners:

Univ. Prof. DDr. Reinhold Esterbauer (Institut für Philosophie an der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Katja Corcoran (Arbeitsbereich Sozialpsychologie)
Ass.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Hans-Walter Ruckenbauer (Institut für Philosophie an der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät)