Americans appear more comfortable with humanoid robots when trained humans remain available to monitor their operation and intervene when necessary, according to new research from Plus One Robotics.
The robotics company says its survey indicates that increasing levels of robot autonomy could also increase expectations for human oversight, particularly when machines are performing tasks involving safety or personal care.
According to the research, 26 percent of Americans cite a lack of human judgment as their biggest concern about humanoid robots.
Among respondents who say they are uncomfortable allowing robots to perform certain tasks, 57.5 percent say they would become more comfortable if a trained person could monitor the robot or intervene when necessary.
Concerns are particularly pronounced for tasks involving direct responsibility for people. Some 52 percent of respondents say they are uncomfortable with robots watching children, while 46 percent express discomfort with robots performing surgery and 39 percent with robots caring for elderly people.
The findings highlight an emerging question for developers of humanoid and other increasingly autonomous robots: whether greater technical autonomy will necessarily result in completely removing people from the operational loop.
Erik Nieves, CEO of Plus One Robotics, says: “At Plus One, we say, ‘Robots work. People rule.’
“That’s a useful way to think about automation: let the robot handle the set of repetitive tasks that it can while people focus on exceptions, judgment and everything that inevitably falls outside what the machine was designed to do.”
Plus One Robotics specializes in AI-powered robotic automation and has long promoted a model in which human operators can remotely assist robots when automated systems encounter situations they cannot resolve independently.
The survey findings suggest that this type of human-in-the-loop approach could also influence public acceptance as humanoid robots move beyond industrial environments and into applications involving closer interaction with people.
