Future autonomous machines may build trust through emotion

Dr. Celso de Melo, computer scientist with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory at CCDC ARL West in Playa Vista, California, in collaboration with Dr. Kazunori Teradafrom Gifu University in Japan, recently published a paper in Scientific Reports where they show that emotion expressions can shape cooperation. Autonomous machines that act on people's behalf are poised to become pervasive in society, de Melo said; however, for these machines to succeed and be adopted, it is essential that people are able to trust and cooperate with them. "Human cooperation is paradoxical," de Melo said. "An individual is better off being a free rider, while everyone else cooperates; however, if everyone thought like that, cooperation would never happen. This research aims to understand the mechanisms that promote cooperation with a particular focus on the influence of strategy and signaling."