"Sorry to Keep You Waiting": Recovering from Negative Consequences Resulting from Service Robot Unintended Rejection

Robots are increasingly deployed in crowded, large-scale environments where the demands on their services can outweigh their ability to respond. When robots fail to respond, humans may interpret the unintended consequence negatively as a form of rejection, leading to a loss of trust. How do service robots recover from such rejection to remediate human trust due to perceived rejection? We created a task mimicking shopping malls where the robot arm is asked to provide coffee, juice, or tea to participants. When the robot rendered service elsewhere, participants reported feeling excluded and less trusting of the robot. When the robot subsequently apologized or provided promise of future favor, participants regained trust in the robot, with favor rendering yielding significantly more trust responses. This study highlights the importance of understanding inadvertently negative consequences of robot behaviors, and suggests design solutions for overcoming this negative perception through remediation strategies. © 2024 ACM.