Workload and trust differ in virtual versus real human robot teaming
Examining the Difference in Human Behavior Between Virtual and Real-World Human-Robot Teaming
RoboticsHuman-Computer Interaction
Summary
Working with robots in virtual reality can feel different from working with robots in the real world. This study compares how people behave and feel when teaming with robots in both settings. The researchers found that people experienced different levels of mental workload and had different ways of trusting and understanding the robots depending on whether they were in virtual or real environments. The study helps us understand how using virtual tests might change how people act compared to real-life situations.
What this means in practice
- •For robotics developers: Design virtual simulations for testing human-robot teams while accounting for different user workload and trust experiences compared to real environments.
- •For human factors engineers: Create better user studies by understanding how trust and strategies change between virtual and real human-robot interaction settings.
Authors
Sean Dallas, Absalat Getachew, Motaz AbuHijleh, Andrea Macklem-Zabel, Douglas Zytko, Mark Brudnak, Wing-Yue Geoffrey Louie
Abstract
Prototyping and evaluating human-robot teaming (HRT) scenarios in the real-world is costly. Virtual simulation of HRT scenarios has been adopted as an alternative to conducting user studies in the real-world to investigate user perceptions, behaviors, and performance during human-robot interactions. The consistency of human behavior between the real and virtual-worlds is integral to the validity of utilizing such virtual experimentation. This paper presents a user study examining the difference in human behavior between an HRT scenario conducted in a virtual vs real environment. We employed mixed-methods to examine team performance and human factors during the HRT. Our quantitative results showed a significant difference in workload between the two modalities. Our qualitative analysis expanded on the quantitative results and found differences in participants' strategy, their mental model of robots, and the type of trust they had for robots between modalities.