Project description

As the world becomes increasingly technologically forward, the presence of artificial agents in day-to-day life also becomes more apparent. Studying the interaction between humans and artificial agents, such as robots, has long been in the research spotlight. While research in this field is traditionally focused on how robots can improve our lives, this PhD project aims at flipping the focus on humans helping robots.

The current state of robots allows them to perform a wide variety of tasks. However, they sometimes have issues completing tasks and need further assistance or input from humans. We are aimed at understanding the boundary conditions under which people choose to show prosocial behavior towards a robot. The research is exploring humans helping robots in both online studies and laboratory settings. We investigate the role of already established psychological variables such as attitudes towards robots and anthropomorphism, and also expand our search by looking at new variables in the field of HRI, such risk and opportunity perception. Gaining knowledge and understanding of when and why people help robots is relevant for their integration and acceptance in our society.

Cooperations

• Dr. Nadia Said, University of Tübingen (Psychology)
• Prof. Dr. Georg Jahn, University of Technology Chemnitz