What humans want, in an automated vehicle

November 8, 2019
Professors Lionel Robert and X. Jessie Yang stand in front of an autonomous vehicle at Mcity, an autonomous vehicle testing ground. Photo: Jeffrey M. Smith/School of Information.

Agreeable, conscientious, and stable. These are three human personality traits that, it turns out, we want to see in our driverless cars regardless of whether we possess them ourselves, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.

The researchers set out to examine how a person’s perception of safety in an autonomous vehicle was influenced by the degree to which the vehicle and the rider seemed to share certain “personality” traits.

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Humans and robots: the emotional connection

July 22, 2019
Robot plays soccer
YiBin Jiang, Medical School Research Technician, plays soccer with a robot. Photo: Joseph Xu.

Soldiers develop attachments to the robots that help them diffuse bombs in the field. Despite numerous warnings about privacy, millions of us trust smart speakers like Alexa to listen into our daily lives. Some of us name our cars and even shed tears when we trade them in for shiny new vehicles.

Research has shown that individually we develop emotional, trusting relationships with robotic technology, but until now little has been known about whether groups that work with robots develop attachments, and if so, if such emotions affect team performance. 

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Building trust between driverless car and driver

March 14, 2019
an obstacle in the road during a driving simulator
An upcoming obstacle sits in the road during a driving simulation that explores how drivers trust autonomous driving systems. Courtesy Lionel Robert.

If a driver does not trust an autonomous driving system, letting the computer take control can be as daunting as letting a teenager take the wheel. While not trusting a new driver might cause passengers to slam a phantom brake pedal or white-knuckle an arm rest, a driver who does not trust driverless systems might miss out on important safety benefits or even, as autonomous system advance, the ability to complete other tasks.

To improve trust in autonomous systems, researchers at the University of Michigan conducted virtual driving trials that found that the more information an automated driving system communicated about upcoming situations, the higher the level of trust a driver had in the system, and the better the driver performed on a task other than driving.

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Virtual reality job trials for collaborative robots

October 11, 2018
construction worker reads plans
A construction worker reads plans for the GG Brown Addition on North Campus. Photo: Joseph Xu, Michigan Engineering

Robots seem a perfect match for many of the exacting, tedious, and repetitive jobs that occur on a construction site, and they can free up human workers to take on more complex tasks. However, introducing robots capable of nailing drywall or laying loads of brick can introduce unfamiliar dangers to a worksite already full of hazards from heavy machinery, power tools, and cranes dangling steel beams.

To ensure humans feel safe working with and around new robots, researchers at the University of Michigan developed and tested a social theory using a platform that is able to prototype robots in an immersive virtual reality.

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