John Michael, University of Warwick, and Central European University, UK

There is a vast potential for robots to assist humans in joint actions in many different domains, from disaster relief to health care, education, and manufacturing. As roboticists move forward in optimizing human-robot interactions in order to tap this potential, it may be fruitful to consider one particular question pertaining to the challenge of designing robots with whom humans can interact comfortably and productively in various kinds of joint action. Specifically: Is it possible to design robots that elicit and/or exhibit a sense of commitment – i.e. such that (i) humans agents are motivated by a sense of commitment toward them, (ii), human agents expect them to be motivated by a sense of commitment toward human agents, (iii) they are motivated by a sense of commitment toward human agents, and/or (iv) they expect human agents to be motivated by a sense of commitment toward them. To the extent that it is feasible to implement one or more of these forms of a sense of commitment in human-robot interaction, this could be useful insofar as it could enhance human agents’ willingness to rely on robots (e.g. to perform actions which depend upon a contribution from a robot and otherwise entail a risk), could motivate human agents to perform important actions which they otherwise might not perform (e.g. to practice new skills which they are learning with a robot collaborator, to take their pills regularly because they have made a commitment to their robot nurse that they will do so, or more generally, to promote therapeutic interactions – especially with regard to elderly people, cf. [1]. In a nutshell, a sense of commitment could be highly useful in optimizing human-robot interactions, since the sense of commitment serves important functions which are of great benefit in human-human interactions. In this talk, I will first lay out some conceptual preliminaries pertaining to commitment and the sense of commitment, to the social functions thereof, and to the ways in which commitment and the sense of commitment can be generated and sustained in human-human interactions. Next, I will identify several concrete factors, which may be useful for implementing the sense of commitment in human-robot interaction.