Research

🆕 Would you trust a swarm of robots?

Our team is looking for volunteers to take part in a new study involving robots!

With this research we are focusing on how people’s trust in a group of robots (a ‘robotic swarm’) might change in response to how well the robots perform on a task over time.

For this study, you will supervise a robotic swarm searching for items in a space. We will ask you questions about your trust in the swarm before, during and after each mission.

You will supervise between three and five of the robot swarm’s searches, each lasting approximately three minutes. Altogether with rest breaks in between, this will require a time commitment of twenty minutes.

We are seeking participants who are

• 18 years of age or older, and
• Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.

The study will take place in November and December 2023 on the Parkville campus. No previous knowledge or preparation is needed, and we will give all instructions in the session.

Your involvement would be greatly appreciated and will help us to better understand how swarm performance influences human trust and engagement!

Reserve your session here!

This project ("Appraising Trust in Interactions between Human Supervisors and Autonomous Robotic Systems") has been approved by the University of Melbourne's Office of Research Ethics and Integrity (ID #27715).