Title: The effect of human-robot interaction on trust, situational awareness, and performance in drone clearing operations

Authors: Thomas M. Schnieders; Zhonglun Wang; Richard T. Stone; Gary Backous; Erik Danford-Klein

Addresses: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50010, USA ' Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50010, USA ' Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50010, USA; Mechanical Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA; Story County Sheriff's Office, Story County, Nevada, Iowa, 50201, USA ' Story County Sheriff's Office, Story County, Nevada, Iowa, 50201, USA ' Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50010, USA

Abstract: With advances in microcomputers, microprocessors, and battery form factor, small drones are seeing a growing trend of deployment. Building clearing operations, especially in active shooter scenarios, can be high risk when officers need to clear a building on their own. This study analysed the use of a small drone in a building clearing operation with a County Sheriff's Department to help mitigate the danger of single officer clearing operations. Aspects of trust (human-robotic trust survey), situational awareness (SART), mental demand (NASA-TLX), and performance (completion time and target miss rate) were measured. Fourteen officers, age 22-63 with an average of 5.4 years law enforcement experience and three years of building sweeping experience participated in the study. The results of the study indicate that the use of a single drone during clearing operation can slow down the operation, but accuracy and safety of clearing is enhanced. The use of the drone saw non-significant changes in mental workload other than temporal demand, increased situational awareness, a decrease in the number of targets missed, and a moderate level of trust.

Keywords: drone; unmanned aerial vehicles; clearing operations; levels of trust; situational awareness; mental demand; human-robotic interaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2019.102294

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2019 Vol.6 No.2, pp.103 - 123

Received: 15 Nov 2018
Accepted: 06 Feb 2019
Published online: 16 Sep 2019 *

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