Robots Change How Humans Take Risks—and It Depends on the Relationship
A new study reveals that whether a robot collaborates with or competes against humans dramatically shifts risk-taking behavior in unpredictable ways. Companies deploying robots in team settings should expect these dynamics to affect safety, performance, and decision-making—requiring different management approaches depending on how robots are positioned relative to human workers.
Originaltitel: Risk-Taking Behavior in Human-Robot Teams: Collaboration vs. Competition
<p>Robots are increasingly joining human teams, where collaboration and competition often coexist. However, their impact on human risk-taking remains unclear. We investigated whether collaborating with or competing against a humanoid robot influences risk-taking behavior and performance using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). In this task, participants pump a virtual balloon to earn points, but risk losing all their points if the balloon bursts. They interacted with a NAO robot in a pre-registered, mixed-design study (N=43), with interaction type (collaboration vs. competition) as a between-subjects factor and team context (solo vs. social) as a within-subjects factor. We found that social interaction increased risk behavior compared to playing alone. Competition fostered strategic risk-taking, with more pumps, fewer bursts and higher scores resulting from optimal strategy adoption. In contrast, collaboration fostered exploratory risk-taking with increased risk but without performance gains. Additional exploratory analysis revealed that men took more risks in collaboration. Our findings demonstrate that the type of social interaction, rather than the mere presence of a robot, shapes how humans take risks with robots.</p>