Power Dynamics and Autonomy: Engaging Employees Around the Design of Autonomous Agents

Power dynamics through the lens of autonomy in human-robot interaction (HRI) has largely been considered through the robot's persuasion and its impact on users. Power found in hierarchies and relationships between users and robots has been less investigated. Through a co-design workshop with industry employees, we investigate how employees design autonomous agents (AA) for a risk management and safety task, focusing on the designed agent interactions and personalities (robots and chatbots). The qualitative analysis of the storyboards and personalities revealed how employees designed autonomy and power dynamics between the workers and AAs, mirroring power dynamics in social systems. These results revealed how power dynamics are interconnected with anthropomorphization of AAs, demonstrating what has been previously theorized by HRI scholars. Overall, this work considers autonomy and power in design representations and unifies varying conceptualizations of power in HRI to support a holistic perspective of how power is explored through HRI design.