An Immersive Investment Game to Study Human-Robot Trust

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
• Social Robotics

Background:

• Developing trust is crucial for advanced human-robot interaction and cooperation.
• Existing methods for measuring human-robot trust need more elaborate scenarios.
• The investment game is a validated trust measurement tool in social science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the investment game for measuring trust in human-robot interaction.
• To create an immersive, science fiction scenario for intrinsic motivation in human-robot collaboration.
• To investigate the impact of non-verbal communication on human-robot trust.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two Neuro-Inspired COmpanion (NICO) robots and projected scenery for an immersive experiment.
• Adapted the investment game into a scaled-up, science fiction-themed human-robot collaboration scenario.
• Investigated the correlation between self-assessed trust and game-measured trust, and the effect of non-verbal cues.

Main Results:

• Observed a significant correlation (0.43) between self-assessed trust and trust measured via the adapted investment game.
• Found a positive impact of non-verbal communication on trust, anthropomorphism, and perceived animacy of the robots.
• The proposed space mission experiment design proved applicable for measuring trust in HRI.

Conclusions:

• The developed immersive scenario is an effective method for measuring trust in human-robot interaction.
• Non-verbal communication significantly influences human trust and perception of robots.
• This approach provides a valuable tool for studying trust dynamics in human-robot collaboration.