Methods and Effects of Priming a Teloperator's Perception of Robot Capabilities.

Priming is the influence of external stimuli on a person's behavior and thoughts, where the effect is related to some quality of that stimuli. In this work, we explore three methods of priming teleoperator's expectations about robot capability and investigate how this may impact driving behavior and perceptions of the robot. We tested priming impressions of robot ability by the stiffness of the robot controller, additionally describing the changes in stiffness verbally to operators and simply describing the robots' abilities on paper and verbally. Our results found that all priming methods affected the perception of the robot including its speed, weight, or overall safety. Further, we confirmed that some priming methods lowered operator collisions by over 40%. Thus, interface and product designers should consider priming as a tool to leverage to improve operator performance and perception of the robot.