Robots operating in close proximity to humans rely heavily on human trust to successfully complete their tasks. But what are the real outcomes when this trust is violated? Self-defense law provides a framework for analyzing tangible failure scenarios that can inform the design of robots and their algorithms. Studying self-defense is particularly important for ground robots since they operate within public environments, where they can pose a legitimate threat to the safety of nearby humans. Moreover, even if ground robots can guarantee human safety, the perception of a physical threat is sufficient to justify human self-defense against robots. In this paper, we synthesize works in law, engineering, and social science to present four actionable recommendations for how the robotics community can craft robots to mitigate the likelihood of self-defense situations arising. We establish how current U.S. self-defense law can justify a human protecting themselves against a robot, discuss the current literature on human attitudes toward robots, and analyze methods that have been produced to allow robots to operate close to humans. Finally, we present hypothetical scenarios that underscore how current robot navigation methods can fail to sufficiently consider self-defense concerns and the need for the recommendations to guide improvements in the field.
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Analyzing Human-Robot Trust in Police Work Using a Teleoperated Communicative Robot
Recent advances in robotics have accelerated their widespread use in nontraditional domains such as law enforcement. The inclusion of robotics allows for the introduction of time and space in dangerous situations, and protects law enforcement officers (LEOs) from the many potentially dangerous situations they encounter. In this paper, a teleoperated robot prototype was designed and tested to allow LEOs to remotely and transparently communicate and interact with others. The robot featured near face-to-face interactivity and accuracy across multiple verbal and non-verbal modes using screens, microphones, and speakers. In cooperation with multiple law enforcement agencies, results are presented on this dynamic and integrative teleoperated communicative robot platform in terms of attitudes towards robots, trust in robot operation, and trust in human-robot-human interaction and communication.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2026658
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10304129
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515489
