Team and Individual Trust Progression for Human-Autonomy Teaming in Next Generation Combat Vehicles

Abstract

This study investigated in 22 teams, individual and team trust measures reported by two human participants, recruited from a university populace, as they interacted with each other, robotic combat vehicles (RCVs), a human superior, and their team during a simulated Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) mission conducted within Minecraft. Trust was measured via survey questions based on established metrics and was found to be high toward the human peer, the human superior, and the overall team throughout the mission. In contrast, overall trust in the RCV was significantly lower in phases of the mission when breakdown in RCV functionality caused a hindrance in mission completion. Trust in the RCV was shown to recover as the mission progressed in phases without RCV maintenance issues. The findings reinforce that trust is distinguishable at the individual level and not necessarily perceived the same at the team level.