Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Aeronautics

First Advisor

Meredith Carroll

Second Advisor

Jessica L. Wildman

Third Advisor

Rian Mehta

Fourth Advisor

John E. Deaton

Abstract

Current dyadic teams in the human-agent teams literature demonstrates that Propensity to Trust in Technology (PTT), previous experience with an agent, levels of autonomy (LOA), workload, and mission performance affect trust and mission performance to some capacity. However, the purpose of this study was to expand this line of research by examining how these factors influence trust and mission performance in a multi unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) context. To investigate the relationship between these factors and trust, an archival study was conducted using data from a previously-conducted, multi-UAV study. The previous study utilized a within-subjects repeated measures design in which participants conducted four separate, 5-minute, multi-UAV missions in four different LOA conditions utilizing four UAVs. The four LOAs included manual (agents did not assist in target selection), advice (agents provided suggestions for target selection), consent (agents pre-selected targets), and veto (agents completed all task independently). Measures of performance were collected through interactions with the drones, whereas measures of PTT, workload, and trust were collected via self-report surveys. Forty-seven participants experienced 4 trials each, resulting in a total of 188 trials to investigate. Utilizing this data, two multiple regression analyses were conducted. The first examined the relationship between the dependent variable of trust and independent variables of PTT, previous experience with agents, LOA, and workload ratings. The second examined the relationship between the dependent variable of mission performance and independent variables of reported trust, LOA, and workload. Findings revealed that PTT and mission performance positively and significantly influenced trust, whereas the advice LOA, consent LOA, and workload negatively and significantly influenced trust. Results from the second multiple regression found that the consent LOA, veto LOA, and trust positively and significantly influenced mission performance in a multi-HATs.

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