Proceedings

Studying the Effects of Robot Distraction on School Shooter Behavior Using Virtual Reality

Christopher A. McClurg, Alan R. Wagner

Download BibTeX Cite

Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Human-Centred AI. Pages 7658-7666.

https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/851

Keywords

  • Human-Centred AI: Humans and AI
  • Human-Centred AI: Machine Learning
  • Human-Centred AI: Robotics

Abstract

We examine a particular adversarial human--robot interaction for which mobile robots influence the behavior of people role-playing as a school shooter. Using a high-fidelity virtual reality environment, we conducted a controlled study with 150 participants. Two autonomous robots predicted participant movement and positioned themselves to interfere and distract. The robots' approach strategy was manipulated---either moving directly into the participant's path (aggressive) or maintaining distance (passive)---along with the level of distraction, ranging from no additional cues (low), to siren and lights (medium), to siren, lights, and smoke to impair visibility (high). An aggressive, high-distraction robot configuration reduced the number of victims by 46.6% relative to a no-robot control. These results show that robot-based distraction can meaningfully alter human behavior and outcomes in adversarial settings, while also raising important ethical questions about the use of such systems in school environments.

Christopher A. McClurg, and Alan R. Wagner. 2026. Studying the Effects of Robot Distraction on School Shooter Behavior Using Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-26. IJCAI, 7658–7666. https://doi.org/10.24963/ijcai.2026/851
Welcome Future Conferences AI Journal Division IJCAI Proceedings About IJCAI IJCAI Awards