Teamwork with Robots

Back to Human-Robot Collaboration

Lionel P. Robert Jr.

Professor 

School of Information 

Core Faculty, Michigan Robotics

University of Michigan

Human-robot teams are increasingly being used in dynamic environments to tackle complex tasks. 

For example:

• First-responder teams are saving lives by coordinating their actions through robots and drones. 

• Police officers are employing remote-control robots to counter acts of terrorism. 

• Construction teams collaborate through their robots to bring down concrete walls from a safe distance. 

• NASA is employing remote-control robots to aid in space exploration. 

In all of these cases, lives are at risk and hinge on the ability to effectively deploy robots. Unfortunately, advances in robotics have far exceeded our understanding of how these collaborative technologies can be leveraged. 

My research in this area explores highly significant questions at the dawn of an era of human-robot collaboration. As robots become increasingly central to our society it seems timely and important to understand how to effectively employ these robots. This research has the high-impact potential to reshape what we know about collaborative work.

Research Papers on Teamwork with Robots 

Journal Articles 

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2023). The Theory of Mind and Human-Robot Trust Repair, Scientific Reports, 13, Article: 9877 (pdf), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37032-0 copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7741 and online supplement (pdf).

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2023). Trusting and Working with Robots: A Relational Demography Theory of Preference for Robotic over Human Co-Workers, MIS Quarterly, (conditionally accepted) (pdf) copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7223.

Marcu, G., Lin, I., Williams, B., Robert, L. P. and Schaub, F. (2023). "Would I Feel More Secure With a Robot?": Understanding Perceptions of Security Robots in Public Spaces, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7, CSCW, Article 322, (October 2023), (pdf) copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7211.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2023). Three Strikes and You are Out!: The Impacts of Multiple Human-Robot Trust Violations and Repairs on Robot Trustworthiness, Computers in Human Behavior, 142, Article: 107658 (pdf), open access https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107658 copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6774.

Melville, N. P., Robert, L.P. and Xiao, X. (2023). Putting Humans Back in the Loop: An Affordance Conceptualization of the 4th Industrial Revolution, Information Systems Journal, accepted (pdf), http://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12422 copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6639.

 You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2023). Subgroup Formation in Human-Robot Teams: A Multi-Study Mixed Method Approach with Implications for Theory and Practice, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, (pdf), 74(3), 323-338, open access link https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24626.

Paul, S., Yuan, L., Jain, H. K., Robert, L. P., Spohrer, J., and Lifshitz-Assaf, H. (2022). Intelligence Augmentation: Human Factors in AI and Future of Work, AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, 14(3), 426-445 (pdf), https://doi.org/10.17705/1thci.00174 link to the copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6494.

Ali, A. Azevedo-Sa, H., Tilbury, D. and Robert, L. P. (2022). Heterogeneous Human-Robot Task Allocation Based on Artificial Trust, Scientific Reports, 12, 15304 (pdf), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19140-5.

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2022). Team Robot Identification Theory (TRIT): Robot Attractiveness and Team Identification on Performance and Viability in Human-Robot Teams, The Journal of Supercomputing, forthcoming, 78, 19684–19706 (pdf) link to the copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/4813. 

Esterwood, C., Essenmacher, K., Yang, H., Zeng, F. and Robert, L. P. (2022). A Personable Robot: A Meta-Analysis of Robot Personality and Human Acceptance, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(3), 6918 - 6925 (pdf), https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2022.3178795 link to the copy provided by the author: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/4808.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P.  (2021). A Systematic Review of Human and Robot Personality in Healthcare Human-Robot Interaction, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8:748246. doi:10.3389/frobt.2021.748246. open-access https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.748246.

Azevedo-Sa, H., Yang, X. J., Robert, L. P. and Tilbury, D. (2021). A Unified Bi-Directional Model for Natural and Artificial Trust in Human-Robot Collaboration, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 6(3), 5913-5920. (pdf), https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2021.3088082 link to the copy provided by the author http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/167859.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2021). Robots and COVID-19: Re-imagining Human–Robot Collaborative Work in Terms of Reducing Risks to Essential Workers, Robonomics: The Journal of the Automated Economy, (pdf), 1, 9, forthcoming, link to the copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/165332.

Robert, L. P., Alahmad, R.,  Kim, S., Esterwood, C., You, S. and Zhang, Q. (2020). A Review of Personality in Human Robot Interactions, Foundations & Trends in Information Systems, (pdf), 4(2), 107–210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/2900000018  Book ISBN: 978-1-68083-662-2 and e-book ISBN: 978-1-68083-663-9  author's copy: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/153526 and http://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11777.

You, S., Kim, J., Lee, S., Kamat, V., Robert, L. P. (2018). Enhancing Perceived Safety in Human–Robot Collaborative Construction Using Immersive Virtual Environments, Automation in Construction (AutoCon), 96, pp.161-170 (pdf),  link to the article on publisher's site: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.09.008 link to copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/145620.

Robert, L. P.  (2018). Motivational Theory of Human Robot Teamwork, International Robotics & Automation Journal, (IRAJ), 4(4), pp. 248-251 (pdf), link to the article on the publisher's site https://doi.org/10.15406/iratj.2018.04.00131 link to the author's copy http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/145157.

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2018). Emotional Attachment, Performance, and Viability in Teams Collaborating with Embodied Physical Action (EPA) Robots, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, (JAIS),19(5), pp. 377-407 (pdf), link to JAIS http://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol19/iss5/2 link to the preprint version http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/136918.

Robert, L. P. (2017). The Growing Problem of Humanizing Robots, International Robotics & Automation Journal, (IRAJ), 3(1), (pdf), link to the article on publisher's site http://dx.doi.org/10.15406/iratj.2017.03.00043, link to the author's copy http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/138018.

You, S. and Robert, L. P.  (2017). Teaming Up with Robots: An IMOI (Inputs-Mediators-Outputs-Inputs) Framework of Human-Robot Teamwork, International Journal of Robotic Engineering, (IJRE), 2(3), (pdf), SSRN's  Robotics eJournal Top Ten download list for CompSciRN Topic: Human-Robotic Interaction, 4 April 2019 link to the article on publisher's site  ijre-2-003 link to the author's copy http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/138192.

Published Conference Proceedings 

Jain, A., Bhatti, S. C., and Robert, L.P. (2024). Service Robots in Restaurants: Anticipated Changes in Employee Feedback, Performance, Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention, Proceedings of the 30th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2024), (pdf),  Aug 15-17, 2024, Salt Lake City, UT. 

Ye, X., Bhatti, S. C., and Robert, L.P. (2024). Gender and Security Robot Interactions: A Brief Review and Critique, Proceedings of the 30th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2024), (pdf),  Aug 15-17, 2024, Salt Lake City, UT. (Conditional Acceptance).

Zhang, Q., Zhou, F., Robert, L.P., Yang, X.J. (2024). Designing Healthcare Robots at Home for Older Adults: A Kano Model Perspective, Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2024), March 11-15, 2024 in Boulder, Colorado, USA. (pdf), open access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/22071

Lin, Y., Jo, W., Ali, A., Robert, L.P., Tilbury, D. (2024). Toward Personalized Tour-Guide Robot: Adaptive Content Planner based on Visitor's Engagement, Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2024), March 11-15, 2024 in Boulder, Colorado, USA. (pdf), open access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/22072.

Ye, X. and Robert, L.P. (2023). Human Security Robot Interaction and Anthropomorphism: An Examination of Pepper, RAMSEE, and Knightscope Robots, Proceedings of the 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2023), (pdf), Aug 28 - Aug 31, Busan, South Korea. Open-access link: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7767.

Bhatti, S. and Robert, L. P. (2023). Human, Machine, or Hybrid? Using Anthropomorphism to Conceptualize Trust in Robots, Proceedings of the 26th Americas Conference on Information Systems, (AMCIS 2023), (pdf), Aug 10-12, Panama City, Panama, the open access link: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/7168.

Cornelius, S., and Robert, L. P. (2023). What does it mean to anthropomorphize robots? Food for thought for HRI research. In Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2023), (pdf), March 13-16, 2023 Stockholm, SE. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568294.3580119, the open-access version: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6772. 

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2023). The Warehouse Robot Sim: An Open-Source HRI Research Platform. In Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2023), (pdf), March 13-16, 2023 Stockholm, SE. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568294.3580086, the open-access version: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6773.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2022). A Literature Review of Trust Repair in HRI, Proceedings of 31th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2022), (pdf), August 29 - September 2, 2022. Naples, Italy. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN53752.2022.9900667 open-access link: https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/4835.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2022). Having The Right Attitude: How Attitude Impacts Trust Repair in Human-Robot Interaction, Proceedings of the 2022 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2022), (pdf), (Acceptance rate: 24.8%), March 7-10, 2022, Originally Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. https://doi.org/10.5555/3523760.3523806 open access link https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/3781.

Esterwood, C., Essenmacher, K., Yang, H., Zeng, F. and Robert, L. P. (2021). Birds of a Feather Flock Together: But Do Humans and Robots? A Meta-Analysis of Human and Robot Personality Matching, Proceedings of 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021), (pdf), Aug 08 - Aug 12, 2021. Virtual Conference (originally in Vancouver, BC, Canada), https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515394 open access link http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/168397.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2021). Do You Still Trust Me? Human-Robot Trust Repair Strategies, Proceedings of 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2021), (pdf), Aug 08 - Aug 12, 2021. Virtual Conference (originally in Vancouver, BC, Canada), https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN50785.2021.9515365 open access link http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/168396.

Esterwood, C.,  Essenmacher, K., Yang, H., Zeng, F. and Robert, L. P. (2021). A Meta-Analysis of Human Personality and Robot Acceptance in Human-Robot Interaction, Proceedings of the 39th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2021), (pdf), (Acceptance rate: 25.7%), May 8-13, 2021, Online Virtual Conference (originally Yokohama, Japan). https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445542 link provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/165339.

Robert, L. P. (2021). A Measurement of Attitude toward Working with Robots (AWRO): A Compare and Contrast Study of AWRO with Negative Attitude toward Robots (NARS),  In: Kurosu M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Techniques and Novel Applications. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12763. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78465-2_22 open access link http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/166303.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2020). Personality in Healthcare Human Robot Interaction (H-HRI): A Literature Review and Brief Critique, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI 2020), (Acceptance rate: 38%), (pdf), November 10-13, Sydney, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1145/3406499.3415075. link provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/156252.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P. (2020). Human Robot Team Design, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction (HAI 2020), (pdf), November 10-13, Sydney, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1145/3406499.3418751 link provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/156399.

You, S. and Robert, L. P.  (2019). Subgroup Formation in Human-Robot Teams, Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019), (Acceptance rate: 28%), (pdf), Dec 15-18, München, Germany. Copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/150854.

You, S. and Robert, L. P.  (2019). Trusting Robots in Teams: Examining the Impacts of Trusting Robots on Team Performance and Satisfaction, In Bui, T.X. & Sprague, R.H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 52th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 244 – 253. (HICSS 2019), (pdf), Jan 8-11, Maui, HI. Retrieved from URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/59465 and link to copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/145619.

Robert, L. P.  (2018). Personality in the Human Robot Interaction Literature: A Review and Brief Critique, Proceedings of the 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems, (AMCIS 2018), (pdf), Aug 16-18, New Orleans, LA. SSRN's Top Ten download lists for: Cognition in Mathematics, Science, & Technology eJournal, Psychological Anthropology eJournal and Robotics eJournal, 21 March 2019 link to AIS eLibrary http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2018/DataScience/Presentations/24/ copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/143811. Slides to the AMCIS 2018 Presentation (pdf).

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2018). Human-Robot Similarity and Willingness to Work with a Robotic Co-Worker, Proceedings of the 13th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (HRI 2018), (Acceptance rate: 23%), (pdf), March 5–8, 2018, Chicago, IL, USA, copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/140719 and the link to the ACM Digital Library: https://doi.org/10.1145/3171221.3171281.

You, S., Ye, T., Robert, L. P. (2017). Team Potency and Ethnic Diversity in Robot-Supported Dyadic Teams, Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2017), Dec 10-13, Seoul, Korea (pdf). Link to copy provided by the author http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/138124.

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2017). A Working Framework for Human-Robot Teamwork accepted to the Robots in Groups and Teams Workshop at 20th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2017), Portland OR. Link to the paper: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/135719.

You, S and Robert, L. P. (2016). Curiosity vs. Control: Impacts of Training on The Performance of Teams Working with Robots in the Proceedings of the companion publication of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2016), San Francisco, CA, (pdf). http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2818052.2869121 and the link to the copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116395.

Robert, L. P. and You, S.  (2015). Subgroup Formation in Teams Working with Robots in the Extended Abstracts of the 33rd ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015), April 18-23, 2015, Seoul, South Korea, (pdf). The link to the copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/111882 and the link to ACM Digital Library http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2702613.2732791.

Kim, J., You, S., Kamat, V., Sanghyun Lee, S. and Robert, L. P. (2015). Evaluation of Human-Robot Collaboration in Construction Environments Using Immersive Virtual Environments in the International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality, (CONVR 2015) (pdf) http://www.convr2015.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Web-Proceedings-CONVR2015.pdf (See page 132).

Robert, L. P. and You, S. (2014). Human-Robot Interaction in Groups: Theory, Method, and Design for Robots in Groups in the 18th ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work (GROUP 2014) (pdf). November 9–12, 2014, Sundial Island, FL, USA. The link to the copy provided by the author http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/116271 and the link to the ACM Digital Library http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2660398.2660426.

Workshop (Published & Unpublished) Papers

Ali, A., Tilbury, D. and Robert, L. P. (2022). Considerations for Task Allocation in Human-Robot Teams, 2022 AAAI Fall Symposium on AI for HRI, (pdf), Virtual, November 17-19, 2022. https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/6543.

Esterwood, C. and Robert, L. P.  (2021). Fool Me Three Times: Trust Repair & Trustworthiness Over Multiple Violations and Repairs, Cooperative AI NeurIPS Workshop 2021, Virtual, Dec 16, 2021.

Arsha, A. Azevedo-Sa, H., Tilbury, D. and Robert, L. P. (2021). Using Trust for Heterogeneous Human-Robot Team Task Allocation, 2021 AAAI Fall Symposium on AI for HRI, Virtual, November 4-6, 2021. 

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2017). Facilitating Employee Intention to Work with Robots, presented at the Twenty-First Diffusion Interest Group In Information Technology Workshop (DIGIT 2017), Dec 10, Seoul, Korea (pdf), copy provided by the author: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/139708.

You, S. and Robert, L. P. (2016). Trust in Teams Working with Robots to be presented at the 2016 Annual SIG Cognitive Research Workshop, (IS-CORE 2016), (see pages 2-3) Dublin, Ireland.