When a Robot Is Your Teammate

Abstract

Creating effective teamwork between humans and robots involves not only addressing their performance as a team but also sustaining the quality and sense of unity among teammates, also known as cohesion. This paper explores the research problem of: how can we endow robotic teammates with social capabilities to improve the cohesive alliance with humans? By defining the concept of a human–robot cohesive alliance in the light of the multidimensional construct of cohesion from the social sciences, we propose to address this problem through the idea of multifaceted human–robot cohesion. We present our preliminary effort from previous works to examine each of the five dimensions of cohesion: social, collective, emotional, structural, and task. We finish the paper with a discussion on how human–robot cohesion contributes to the key questions and ongoing challenges of creating robotic teammates. Overall, cohesion in human–robot teams might be a key factor to propel team performance and it should be considered in the design, development, and evaluation of robotic teammates.

Introduction to the Emerging Cognitive Science of Distributed Human‐Autonomy Teams

“…In general, this article contributes by empirically highlighting that a robot's intent and decision authority matter and will influence human trust and trustworthiness. In addition, the work by Correia, Melo, and Paiva (2024), Lum and Phillips (2024), and Scheutz et al (2024) in this issue also touch on aspects of trust.…”

“…We speculate here on the application of ITC and real-time team cognition measurement represented in the articles. Correia et al (2024) investigate cohesion in human-robot teams. Cohesion is a subjective state, and Correia et al assert the need for proper measures tailored to teamwork between humans and robotic machines because interactions with robots introduce team dynamics that go beyond interpersonal factors.…”

“…Once artificially intelligent, autonomous systems are capable of communicating and coordinating as a fully competent teammate, they must form cohesive bonds to help ensure effective teamwork. Correia, Paiva, and Melo (2024) explore approaches toward equipping synthetic teammates with the capacity to sustain a sense of unity among teammates through human–robot cohesive alliances. The authors suggest that the five types of cohesion (social, collective, emotional, structural, and task cohesion) are key factors to further drive human–autonomy team performance.…”

“…Correia et al. (2024) investigate cohesion in human–robot teams. Cohesion is a subjective state, and Correia et al.…”

Unleashing Fairness: How a Group Norm-Aware Agent Shakes Up the Ultimatum Game

“…Although these studies focused on elderly people, it is hypothesized that robots' social competencies could positively influence their acceptance by humans. Additionally, Correia et al have discussed the elements necessary for robots to improve the sense of unity and group cohesiveness of human-robot groups [16]. They explored the social aspects that allow humans in a group to consider robots and agents as group members, identifying norms and roles as essential components of group cohesion and necessary for robot socialization.…”