Asch Meets HRI: Human Conformity to Robot Groups

TL;DR

This paper proposes a research plan to investigate how humans conform to robot groups in industrial settings, adapting the classic Asch experiment to human-robot interaction scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental framework to study peer pressure and group dynamics involving industrial robots, filling a research gap in HRI credibility and conformity.

Findings

Anticipated insights into peer influence in robot groups

Understanding of factors affecting conformity such as group size and robot credibility

Potential implications for industrial robot deployment and safety

Abstract

We present a research outline that aims at investigating group dynamics and peer pressure in the context of industrial robots. Our research plan was motivated by the fact that industrial robots became already an integral part of human-robot co-working. However, industrial robots have been sparsely integrated into research on robot credibility, group dynamics, and potential users' tendency to follow a robot's indication. Therefore, we aim to transfer the classic Asch experiment (see \cite{Asch_51}) into HRI with industrial robots. More precisely, we will test to what extent participants follow a robot's response when confronted with a group (vs. individual) industrial robot arms (vs. human) peers who give a false response. We are interested in highlighting the effects of group size, perceived robot credibility, psychological stress, and peer pressure in the context of industrial robots. With the results of this research, we hope to highlight group dynamics that might underlie HRI in industrial settings in which numerous robots already work closely together with humans in shared environments.