Evaluating Human-robot Implicit Communication Through Human-human Implicit Communication

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research is examining ways to make human-robot (HR) communication more natural. Incorporating natural communication techniques is expected to make HR communication seamless and more natural for humans. Humans naturally incorporate implicit levels of communication, and including implicit communication in HR communication should provide tremendous benefit. The aim for this work was to evaluate a model for humanrobot implicit communication. Specifically, the primary goal for this research was to determine whether humans can assign meanings to implicit cues received from autonomous robots as they do for identical implicit cues received from humans. An experiment was designed to allow participants to assign meanings to identical, implicit cues (pursuing, retreating, investigating, hiding, patrolling) received from humans and robots. Participants were tasked to view random video clips of both entity types, label the implicit cue, and assign a level of confidence in their chosen answer. Physiological data was tracked during the experiment using an electroencephalogram and eye-tracker. Participants answered workload and stress measure questionnaires following each scenario. Results revealed that participants were significantly more accurate with human cues (84%) than with robot cues (82%), however participants were highly accurate, above 80%, for both entity types. Despite the high accuracy for both types, participants remained significantly more confident in answers for humans (6.1) than for robots (5.9) on a confidence scale of 1 - 7. Subjective measures showed no significant differences for stress or mental workload across entities. Physiological measures were not significant for the engagement index across v entity, but robots resulted in significantly higher levels of cognitive workload for participants via the index of cognitive activity. The results of this study revealed that participants are more confident interpreting human implicit cues than identical cues received from a robot. However, the accuracy of interpreting both entities remained high. Participants showed no significant difference in interpreting different cues across entity as well. Therefore, much of the ability of interpreting an implicit cue resides in the actual cue rather than the entity. Proper training should boost confidence as humans begin to work alongside autonomous robots as teammates, and it is possible to train humans to recognize cues based on the movement, regardless of the entity demonstrating the movement

Human–agent team dynamics: a review and future research opportunities

Humans teaming with intelligent autonomous agents is becoming indispensable in work environments. However, human–agent teams pose significant challenges, as team dynamics are complex arising from the task and social aspects of human–agent interactions. To improve our understanding of human–agent team dynamics, in this article, we conduct a systematic literature review. Drawing on Mathieu et al.’s (2019) teamwork model developed for all-human teams, we map the landscape of research to human–agent team dynamics, including structural features, compositional features, mediating mechanisms, and the interplay of the above features and mechanisms. We reveal that the development of human–agent team dynamics is still nascent, with a particular focus on information sharing, trust development, agents’ human likeness behaviors, shared cognitions, situation awareness, and function allocation. Gaps remain in many areas of team dynamics, such as team processes, adaptability, shared leadership, and team diversity. We offer various interdisciplinary pathways to advance research on human–agent teams

Operational leadership : Relationship with swift trust, moral stress, and adaptability

Forutsetningene for krigføring og militær ledelse har endret seg dramatisk de siste tiårene. Raske teknologiske fremskritt og et nytt geopolitisk landskap innebærer en rekke nye krav og utfordringer for militære ledere. Denne avhandlingenfokuserer på den enkelte militære leder fra et psykologisk perspektiv. Det overordnede målet med dette doktorgradsprosjektet var å gi en større forståelse av hvordan rask tillit til midlertidige grupper, moralsk stress og tilpasningsevne er relatert til operativ ledelse blant hærledere på lavere nivå. Studie 1 hadde som mål å belyse faktorer som gagner, eller ikke gagner, utviklingen av rask tillit til ledere i midlertidige militærgrupper. Totalt deltok 581 norske og svenske kadetter og offiserer og en kombinasjon av kvalitativ metode og ikke-parametrisk statistikk ble brukt. En hierarkisk modell av faktorer som bidrar til rask tillit til ledere av midlertidige grupper dukket opp. Modellen består av to kategorier på høyt nivå – individuelle kjennetegn og relasjonsrelaterte kjennetegn, som begge omfatter flere underordnede kategorier. Studie 2 hadde som mål å identifisere og få en dypere forståelse av miljø-, organisasjons- og gruppeforhold, og ledelsesrelaterte spørsmål spesielt, rapportert som viktige i alvorlig stressende situasjoner som involverer en moralsk stressor som militær- og politifolk står overfor. Studiegruppen besto av 16 militærkadetter og offiserer og 10 politifolk (alle svenske). Det ble gjennomført dybdeintervjuer og analysert ved hjelp av en fundert teoritilnærming. Den nye modellen består av et hierarkisk system av innbyrdes beslektede koder og kategorier av aspekter rapportert som viktige i alvorlig stressende situasjoner som involverer en moralsk stressor. Kategoriene var følgende (hver er underbygget av flere koder): Miljø, Organisasjon, Ledelse og Gruppe. Studie 3, til slutt, besto av en innledende kvalitativ studie (studie 3A), etterfulgt av en kvantitativ studie (studie 3B). Målet med studie 3A var å oppnå en dypere forståelse av følgende spørsmål: hva kjennetegner vellykket og mislykket militær ledelse på et lavere hierarkisk nivå, når tilpasningsevne er nødvendig for å håndtere en uventet truende hendelse under et fredsbevarende eller fredshåndhevelsesoppdrag i et miljø preget ved irregulær krigføring? Siden kvalitative studier har lav generaliserbarhet, ble de oppnådde resultatene operasjonalisert til et spørreskjema (studie 3B) for å fastslå om en kvantitativ studie ville validere resultatene eller ikke. Intervjuer ble gjennomført med 16 svenske soldater og offiserer i studie 3A, og svar innhentet fra 193 svenske soldater og offiserer i studie 3B. En prosessmodell som beskriver forhold som påvirker tilpasningsevnen når man møter en uventet hendelse ble utviklet i studie 3A. Modellen ble testet i studie 3B. Regresjonsanalyser viste høye til moderat høye justerte R²-koeffisienter. Imidlertid ga en moderasjonsanalyse et ikke-signifikant resultat og en baneanalyse resulterte i en dårlig modelltilpasning. Hovedbidragene til avhandlingen er de tre utviklede teoretiske modellene, og ved tilpasningsevne, den kvantitative testen av modellen. Person-for-situasjon-paradigmet ble brukt som rammeverk i den generelle diskusjonen av alle tre studiene. Til sammen utvider funnene den nåværende forståelsen av operativ ledelse blant militære ledere på lavere nivå.The conditions for warfare and military leadership have changed dramatically in the last few decades. Rapid technological advancements and a new geopolitical landscape imply an array of new demands and challenges for military leaders. This thesis focuses on the individual military leader from a psychological perspective. The overall aim of this thesis was to provide a greater understanding how swift trust in temporary groups, moral stress and adaptability are related to operational leadership among lower-level army leaders. Study 1 aimed to illuminate factors that benefit, or do not benefit, the development of swift trust towards leaders in temporary military groups. A total of 581 Norwegian and Swedish cadets and officers participated and a combination of qualitative clustering and non-parametric statistics was used. A hierarchical model of factors contributing to swift trust in leaders of temporary groups emerged. The model consists of two high-level categories—Individual-related characteristics and Relationship-related characteristics, both of which comprise several subordinate categories. Study 2 aimed to identify and gain a deeper understanding of environmental, organizational, and group conditions, and leadership-related issues in particular, reported as being important in severely stressful situations involving a moral stressor faced by military and police officers. The study group consisted of 16 military cadets and officers and 10 police officers (all Swedish). In-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using a grounded theory-approach. The emerging model consists of a hierarchical system of interrelated codes and categories of aspects reported as being important in severely stressful situations involving a moral stressor. The categories were the following (each being underpinned by several codes): Environment, Organization, Leadership, and Group. Study 3, finally, consisted of an initial qualitative study (study 3A), followed by a quantitative study (study 3B). The aim of study 3A was to obtain a deeper understanding regarding the following question: what characterizes successful and unsuccessful military leadership at a lower hierarchical level, when adaptability is needed to handle an unexpected threatening event during a peacekeeping or peace enforcement mission in an environment characterized by irregular warfare? Since qualitative studies have low generalizability, the obtained results were operationalized into a questionnaire (study 3B) in order to ascertain whether a quantitative study would validate the results or not. Interviews were conducted with 16 Swedish soldiers and officers in study 3A, and responses obtained from 193 Swedish soldiers and officers in study 3B. A process model describing conditions that affect adaptability when encountering an unexpected event was developed in study 3A. The model was tested in study 3B. Regression analyses showed high to moderately high adjusted R² coefficients. However, a moderation analysis yielded a non-significant result and a path-analysis resulted in a poor model fit. The main contributions of the thesis are the three developed theoretical models, and in the case of adaptability, the quantitative test of the model. The person-by-situation paradigm was used as a framework in the general discussion of all three studies. Taken together, the findings broaden the current understanding of operational leadership among lower-level military leaders.Doktorgradsavhandlin

The Internet of Robotic Things:A review of concept, added value and applications

The Internet of Robotic Things is an emerging vision that brings together pervasive sensors and objects with robotic and autonomous systems. This survey examines how the merger of robotic and Internet of Things technologies will advance the abilities of both the current Internet of Things and the current robotic systems, thus enabling the creation of new, potentially disruptive services. We discuss some of the new technological challenges created by this merger and conclude that a truly holistic view is needed but currently lacking.Funding Agency:imec ACTHINGS High Impact initiative</p