Abstract
The development of responsible robotics requires paying attention to responsibility within the research process in addition to responsibility as the outcome of research. This paper describes the preparation and application of a novel method to explore hazardous human-robot interactions. The Virtual Witness Testimony role-play interview is an approach that enables participants to engage with scenarios in which a human being comes to physical harm whilst a robot is present and may have had a malfunction. Participants decide what actions they would take in the scenario and are encouraged to provide their observations and speculations on what happened. Data collection takes place online, a format that provides convenience as well as a safe space for participants to role play a hazardous encounter with minimal risk of suffering discomfort or distress. We provide a detailed account of how our initial set of Virtual Witness Testimony role-play interviews were conducted and describe the ways in which it proved to be an efficient approach that generated useful findings, and upheld our project commitments to Responsible Research and Innovation. We argue that the Virtual Witness Testimony role-play interview is a flexible and fruitful method that can be adapted to benefit research in human robot interaction and advance responsibility in robotics.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has created massive disruption to research projects relying on data collection involving human participants
We provide a detailed account of how our initial set of Virtual Witness Testimony (VWT) role-play interviews were conducted and our findings section focuses on what we discovered about the efficiency of the approach, the quality of the results it generated, and its limitations
These findings show that the VWT role-play interview is a promising format
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has created massive disruption to research projects relying on data collection involving human participants. In the context of academic research, adopting an RRI approach involves acknowledging that the responsibilities held by researchers, universities and funders broaden out from traditional issues of research integrity and plagiarism etc., (vom Schomberg and Hankins 2019) This broadening brings in further aspects around research processes such as gender equality and stakeholder inclusion, and requires attending to the social, policy and environmental impacts of work. Various experts provide details about the specific setting and the robots involved As a result, this investigation process aims to determine the cause of the incident and produce recommendations–which might take the form of technical changes to the robot and its setup, as well as organisational changes in the setting–to prevent similar events from occurring in future and avoid further harms. The EBB-informed investigation process serves as an innovation for safety, trust, accountability, and transparency in social robotics
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