The less time someone slept, the higher their level of trust in a Martian rover called Kalman, students from AGH UST found.
Intended to determine the level of trust humans can give robots, the team observed volunteers from the AGH Space Systems Student Research Club and the answers they gave to a series of questions.
The functionalities of the Kalman Martian which the students have been developing for five years, are similar to those of robots that work in dangerous environments, searching for victims in disasters or performing tasks in war zones.
This means that the level of confidence in the machine should be high enough to trust the robot with such responsible and difficult missions.
As the research results show the level of confidence in the rover was high in all members of the team, close to 4 on a scale from 1 to 5.
Analyses showed, however, that the less time someone slept, the higher their level of trust in the rover.
Nina Bażela, co-author of the study, said: “This particular result is quite interesting because teams working with robots in search of victims in an area of natural disasters or in a war zone are usually prone to working under conditions of elevated stress and a reduced amount and quality of sleep.
“As the results of the study show, this can lead to an increased level of confidence in a robot and giving it too complex tasks or ignoring its limits. Therefore, we would like to expand on this aspect of our investigation in the future and check whether the same effect occurs in other teams as well.”
The students also tried to answer the question of whether the rover can be described as a social robot., and - according to the authors of the study - the answer is yes.
The various social situations in which Kalman participates include: participation in fairs and conferences, during which the team members use Kalman's manipulator to hand the audience various objects; the robot's birthday party, during which Kalman blew a candle and cut the cake; taking the robot for walks by the team members.
Observing the members of the team, the authors of the study concluded that despite the rover's lack of humanoid appearance and the ability to converse or make eye contact, the research club members do feel an emotional connection with it. Three statements, with which the surveyed agreed, point to this conclusion: 'Kalman is friendly', 'Kalman is kind', 'Kalman is a good team member'.
PAP - Science in Poland, Beata Kołodziej
bko/ kap/
tr. RL
