Tool or Partner: Mental-Aware Human-Robot Collaboration

Human-robot collaboration is a critical area of research, aiming to maximize synergy between humans and robots. However, a fundamental question persists: Should robots be seen as mere tools or genuine partners? Existing experimental environments have limitations in supporting virtual human-robot collaboration studies. In this paper, we propose a novel robot training framework designed for mental-aware human-robot collaboration. Within this framework, we introduce a Trust-Aware Mental Model incorporating a Human Trust component to represent human trust in robots. We create a virtual simulation environment to evaluate this model and conduct human-robot collaboration experiments. Quantitative and qualitative analyses demonstrate that integrating the trust-aware mental model enhances collaboration effectiveness. This finding underscores the necessity of viewing robots as true human partners and provides valuable insights for future research in human-robot collaboration.