Impacts of Physical and Informational Failures on Worker–Autonomy Trust in Future Construction

Abstract

Autonomous agents are increasingly becoming construction workers’ teammates, making them an integral part of tomorrow’s construction industry. Although many expect that worker–autonomy teaming will enhance construction efficiency, the presence of auto-agents, or robots necessitates an appropriate level of trust-building between workers and their autonomous counterparts, especially because these auto-agents’ perfection still cannot be guaranteed. Although researchers have widely explored human–autonomy trust in various domains—such as manufacturing and the military—discussion of this teaming dynamic within the construction sector is still nascent. To address this gap, this paper simulated a futuristic bricklaying task to (1) examine whether identifying autonomous agents’ physical and informational failures and risk perception affect workers’ trust levels, and (2) investigate workers’ neuropsychophysiological responses as a measure of trust levels toward robots, especially when autonomous agents are faulty. Results indicate that (1) identification of both types of failures and high-risk perception significantly reduce workers’ trust in autonomous agents, and the nuances of workers’ responses to both types of failures were discerned; and (2) brain activation correlates with trust changes. The findings suggest that workers’ unfamiliarity with autonomous technologies, coupled with fast-growing interest in adopting them, may leave workers at risk of improper trust transfer or overtrust in the autonomous agents. This study contributes to an expanding exploration of worker–autonomy trust in construction and calls for further investigations into effective approaches for auto-agents to communicate their physical and informational failures and to help workers recover and repair trust.