Would you trust a robot?

Researchers from the University of Hertfordshireare part of a new £1.2m
project that will explore how robots can participate in sophisticated interactions with humans in an increasingly safe and trustworthy manner.

Robots are increasingly being developed to serve as active "helpers" in situations where humans require assistance to undertake certain tasks – tasks such as being home companions or personal care robots to help patients during their recovery.

This means that the humans involved must be fully confident in robot behaviour if human-robot teamwork is to become viable and productive.

Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn, from the University of Hertfordshire’s Adaptive Systems Research Group, said:

“People need to be able to trust robots that they come into contact with.

“As part of this new project, our research team here in Hertfordshire will focus on safety issues and trustworthy behaviour in the application of robots as home companions. This research will be carried out in our Robot House where we can observe these behaviours in a realistic environment.”

"Trustworthy Robotic Assistants" is a three and a half year collaborative project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will address issues concerning the barriers between robots and humans that have hampered the development of human-robot interactions.

It will look at not only whether the robot makes safe moves but whether it knowingly or deliberately makes unsafe moves.

The Hertfordshireresearchers have been involved in several European projects since 2004, investigating how robots can provide socially acceptable and useful assistance as a home companion.

This research has been conducted in the University’s Robot House, a domestic smart home particularly suitable for human-robot interaction experiments. The research team is currently coordinating the EU project “ACCOMPANY” which is developing a robotic home companion for supporting assistive living of elderly people in their homes.