Considerations for Developing Robot-Assisted Crisis De-Escalation Practices

Robots are increasingly entering the social sphere and taking on more sophisticated roles. One application for which robots are already being deployed is in civilian security tasks, in which robots augment security and police forces. In this domain, robots will encounter individuals in crisis who may pose a threat to themselves, others, or personal property. In such interactions with human police and security officers, a key goal is to de-escalate the situation to resolve the interaction. This paper considers the task of utilizing mobile robots in de-escalation tasks, using the mechanisms developed for de-escalation in human–human interactions. What strategies should a robot follow in order to leverage existing de-escalation approaches? Given these strategies, what sensing and interaction capabilities should a robot be capable of in order to engage in de-escalation tasks with humans? First, we discuss the current understanding of de-escalation with individuals in crisis and present a working model of the de-escalation process and strategies. Next, we review the capabilities that an autonomous agent should demonstrate to be able to apply such strategies in robot-mediated crisis de-escalation. Finally, we explore data-driven approaches to training robots in de-escalation and the next steps in moving the field forward.