University of Silesia in Katowice

Are robots the pets of the 21st century? Human relations with machines

Before we started to perceive the dog as a friend of man, we first treated him as a useful tool – it guarded the herd, helped to hunt. Eventually, we just began to value its company. Can the same thing happen with machines? There are many indications that it is possible. Anita Pollak, PhD, from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia, winner of the Freedom of Research competition, under which she carried out a research project on the relationship between humans and robots in the workplace, tells about how humans react to robots and whether we are more inclined to treat them as allies or enemies.

Weronika Cygan: Literature, movies, music videos, computer games – robots appear everywhere. They absorb our attention, although our attitude towards them is sometimes ambivalent. On the one hand, they attract us and arouse sympathy, like the iconic R2-D2 from Star Wars or WALL-E, and on the other hand, they can fill us with fear or disgust, like machines from Terminator. Where does this complexity of human behaviour towards robots come from?

Anita Pollak, PhD: Your question is very interesting. Please note that there are different groups of robots and humans. I mainly research industrial robots. Educational robots constitute a very large group – among them there are humanoid robots, that is, they look like us humans. Of course, there are many more types of robots. In the scientific literature, a lot is devoted to the so-called domestic or social robots. It is a group that has been developing more and more recently. Their task is to support the sick or those whose mobility is limited. All these robots have different functions and look different. Why is it that, on the one hand, we are afraid of them, and on the other hand, we like them and want to be with them? It depends on the person we ask. I would not say that age is the decisive issue here – I see elderly people who say they can ask the robot for a glass of water, even ten times a day, and if they were to ask another person for the same, they would already feel embarrassed that they cause trouble so often. Therefore, it is not age that determines whether we are willing to maintain contact with robots.

During my visit to Expo 2020 in Dubai in March 2022, where it was swarming with new technologies, I witnessed interesting human behaviour. There were, among others stands with educational robots. One of them had the ability to answer questions asked by people who approached him. The adults just stared at him, while the children who were closer to the robot touched him and thanked him for his answer, and stroked him (similar to the way mom sometimes strokes her children). It was a very interesting phenomenon.

Weronika Cygan: On the Internet, you can find a lot of movies in which people approach robots in a similar, affectionate way. Sometimes, badly treated machines – pushed or kicked by workers as part of stress tests – inspire compassion and genuine concern. We feel some resistance to the brutal treatment of them. So, can we compare the human-robot relationship to the relationship we have with our pets, dogs or cats?

Anita Pollak, PhD: I started exploring this topic and found out that humans actually explain this relationship with robots by addressing it to the relationship with dogs. Dogs were domesticated by humans because we needed them to guard or signal danger, but over time they also became members of our families. It will sound a bit philosophical, but I think this wider experience is probably influencing our attitude towards robots. We are less afraid of them, because we know them more and, above all, we know that they are useful to us, they help us, so at the same time, we are more satisfied with the fact that we can do something with them.

Weronika Cygan: So what influences how individual people perceive robots and are they friendly towards them or are they distrustful?

Anita Pollak, PhD: In my research, I observed in people the feeling of losing control of the situation during their contact with robots. You have to remember that the feeling of being in control is very important to a human. We feel safe and confident when we are in control of the situation. On the other hand, the overwhelming uncertainty in various circumstances is the worst that a person can feel. Such uncertainty can also arise when dealing with robots because many people do not know robots and do not know what to expect from them. To address such concerns, numerous experts suggest teaching people how the robot works, what its mechanisms of action are, and how to respond appropriately, for example when the robot makes a mistake. There is a branch of psychology that talks about social cognition, i.e. generally about our behaviour in various social situations. It deals with the categorisation and the so-called scripts – a kind of loops of our behaviour. In other words: we could say that when we meet someone we know on the street, when we see him, we approach him, say: “Hello, good to see you”, and he also responds according to a certain standard: “I am also pleased to see you.” It’s all about a script. It would be incomprehensible and unexpected if we had acted differently and, for example, had crossed the street, even if we had good relations. I think these scripts in relation to robots are also being created. In a way, we transfer our behaviour in contact with other people to robots. This can be seen, for example, when people working in the hall with robots put on their work gloves and greet them when entering the room.

It is very important that psychologists deal with the issue of human-robotic contact. Over the years, the topic has been studied only by engineers: whether the system is operational and the robot works well, at what speed should it move so as not to harm or injure a person. It was also them who ensured that the workplace with the robot complied with ergonomic standards. On the other hand, they did not think at all about how the human reacts to the robot and whether working with it suits him.

Anita Pollak, PhD | private gallery

Weronika Cygan: Many of the fears people have about robots seem to concern the place of man in the world. It may not be direct contact, but a broader experience. Many people think that robots will deprive them of their jobs because the machine – unlike them – does not get tired, does not need a break for a meal or go to the toilet, and in the event of a fault, it is easy to repair. Are these fears justified?

Anita Pollak, PhD: An interesting issue arose during my work carried out under the Freedom of Research. I had enough data to investigate why workers sometimes destroy robots. It turned out that there is a difference between how people react to industrial robots and collaboration robots, which are smaller, easier to program, and more secure. They destroy the latter more often, which surprised me personally, because the work of these people is simpler and safer thanks to such collaborative robots, and the employees themselves admit that they are less tired. After all, people relieve some frustration in this way. Why? Recently, there have been scientific texts indicating that public acceptance of the use of robots in the workplace has increased significantly following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Before, we wondered how the teams in which robots would replace workers would function, and whether robots would take a person’s job. These are lively social discussions that show strong fears and uncertainty about the future. Few of those expressing them have had any specific experience with robots before. But in the end, they realised that machines were helping people; make the work less troublesome. The period of the pandemic additionally meant that robots increased safety in workplaces – after all, it is impossible to catch the disease from them. The willingness to work with robots has increased. People have seen the threat of robotics and automation before, and this could be a solution to a lot of problems. We did not expect the war in Ukraine, how much damage it would bring, and now we are thinking about what the new world will be like after the conflict and how Ukraine will rebuild itself. Who will work there? Perhaps the factories there will be automated, and thanks to robots, people will take care of other things? At the moment, teachers of the Ukrainian language are also needed, and the presence of educational robots could meet some of this demand. We agree to certain solutions because everything around us is changing and we have to accept the upcoming changes and adapt to them.

Weronika Cygan: For now, we still treat the presence of robots in our environment as something unique, maybe even exotic, which still fits more science fiction scenarios than real life. How quickly can this change? When will we start to see robots as, let’s call them, “natural landscape features” and get used to them?

Anita Pollak, PhD: When we ask people around us if they have a cleaning Roomba, many of them will say yes. Do they learn a foreign language with a bot? Also, many will answer yes. During the research, I was in a production plant, where there were only three robot workstations, and another fifteen were arranged in the traditional way. When, at the beginning of the shift, the master said which employees would be assigned to the robot position, they were happy about it, they liked to work there. It was a distinction for them, an award because they knew that their working day would be different. Robots are already around us, but we don’t always pay attention to them consciously. However, not everywhere will interactions with them be perceived in such a positive way. Some time ago, an interesting study with educational robots was conducted. Students’ reactions were checked when questioned by the robot and then by the teacher. Children generally reacted poorly when being questioned by the robot. It was similar during another study when the candidate’s CV was checked by the system and the interview was conducted by an avatar instead of a human. People in this situation feel unfairly treated. In my research, I concluded that people should be properly prepared to work with robots. In my work under Freedom of Research, I state that experience is of great importance for handling stress while working with a robot. The feeling of being in control of the situation mentioned earlier is also important. Initially, a person dealing with a robot in the workplace thinks that he or she is in control of the situation, but when the machine is started and it works, for example, at a certain speed, this person must adapt to its pace. This is the first moment when a person realises that he or she does not seem to have full control over what is happening. Additionally, stopping the mechanism by this person might be misconstrued, because then everyone around would know that this person made a mistake.

I think that here the question of control is a very interesting issue and it is getting more and more complicated. Suddenly, we realised that we knew very little about how human behaviour changes under such conditions of working with robots. What if there are more of these machines? We know that people are more mentally exhausted when they work with four robots instead of one. We should add to this the awareness that I – a human – am one, and these robots form a separate group.

Weronika Cygan: It seems that employers face a great challenge to make workplaces with robots as friendly to people as possible. Does Polish law take into account the latest results of psychological research when establishing regulations in force in various companies and enterprises using machines?

Anita Pollak, PhD: We have ergonomic standards. In my research, people assessed this aspect positively. There are also regulations of the European Union from several years ago, according to which robots introduced into workplaces with people should not be humanoid. These machines are changing and becoming friendlier. Even some kind of hiding of the robot matters here. For example, its surface is covered with a special skin that is pleasant to touch, thanks to which the person placing his hand on it does not feel the cold, slippery material, but the object is more pleasant to the touch Similar issues are constantly regulated. In the case of medical robots in Poland, the doctor is responsible for the result of the operation on the heart with the use of a robot. The former is only supported by the machine – it can better cut a lesion, and make a more precise incision, but each time it has to obtain confirmation from the doctor that the activity is to be performed in a certain way.

Weronika Cygan: What are your further research perspectives? Will the issues raised in the project implemented so far under the Freedom of Research be developed?

Anita Pollak, PhD: My plans are still related to robots. I’d like to go back to the lab. The worst thing about the pandemic was that it made me change the nature of the research I was carrying out from experimental to questionnaires. I’m going to continue measuring people’s responses to robots, but using sensors. Then I receive data not only directly from the person who reports that they feel a given emotion, but I am able to measure it myself. This increases the value of the data, and so they complement each other. I will be able to expand my research with further conclusions, thus obtaining a more complete approach to the topic.

Weronika Cygan: Thank you very much for the interview.

The article “Are robots the pets of 21st century?” was published in the May issue of “Gazeta Uniwersytecka UŚ” (University of Silesia Magazine) no. 8 (298).