Creating Trustworthy Robots: Lessons and Inspirations from Automated Systems

One of the most significant challenges of human-robot interaction research is designing systems which foster an appropriate level of trust in their users: in order to use a robot effectively and safely, a user must place neither too little nor too much trust in the system. In order to better understand the factors which influence trust in a robot, we present a survey of prior work on trust in automated systems. We also discuss issues specific to robotics which pose challenges not addressed in the automation literature, particularly related to reliability, capability, and adjustable autonomy. We conclude with the results of a preliminary web-based questionnaire which illustrate some of the biases which autonomous robots may need to overcome in order to promote trust in users.