Humans might be too trusting of robots in emergencies

The stereotype around robots is that most humans are afraid of them, either because they'll take over jobs or take over the world. In an almost ironic twist of fate, however, it seems that humans might actually trust this metal creatures in case of an emergency. In fact, they might actually trust them too much, even when all experience and reason tells them not to. That was was the bizarre finding that a Georgia Tech research arrived at when testing human and robot interaction in emergency situations, believe to be the first ever study of its kind.

The tests begin innocently enough with humans being instructed to follow a robot to a conference room. The robot, which was actually being secretly controlled by researchers, would sometimes repeatedly lead them in to the wrong rooms before leading them to the correct one. In some cases, the robot would completely stop and the test subjects would be told that the robot had broken down.

Once inside the conference room filling up surveys and reading materials about robots, the researchers would fill the building with artificial smoke to set off an alarm and give the impression that there's a fire inside the building. The very same robot that had repeatedly misled the humans or had broken down would then activate to lead them to safety with its bright red LEDs and arms. Or at least they thought. Almost like a reel from a gag show, the test subjects would follow the robot around, even if the robot would, again, lead them to dead ends or wrong directions.

It should probably be noted that the humans were indeed wary and distrustful of the erring robots when the tests were conducted outside a high-stress emergency situation. And in some cases of the emergency test, some humans did wise up a bit, but only after a few wrong leads.

Researchers believe that this behavior can be attributed to the way the human mind works in an emergency. It seems to cling to what it perceives to be an authority figure, in this case the robots, whom they follow almost without question. It is as if humans offload the thinking and decision making process to these authority figures, whether deserved or not.

More than a testament to the strange ways our minds work, the research also emphasizes the burden those who create and design robots used for safety. These robots will inevitably take on the role of the authority figure and it is critical that they neither breakdown nor malfunction in those situations.

SOURCE: Phys.org