The Application and Extension of the Human-Animal Team Model to Better Understand Human-Robot Interaction: Recommendations for Further Research

Abstract

In order to create effective human-robot teams, robots must possess social capabilities that match the expectations of their human teammates. However the ability of robots to approximate human capacities is limited due to technological constraints. Human-animal teams have thus been suggested as a suitable analog for modeling teaming between humans and non-humans. Due to the limited capacity for animals to express their intentions, it follows that human-animal relationships can provide a basic framework for understanding how humans interpret information from teammates with limited social faculties. The purpose of this paper is provide research recommendations to identify specific areas in which human-animal teams can be used to model human-robot teams and to provide suggestions for investigating this model empirically in the context of social interaction.