The Influence of Robot Form on Trust

Assistive robotics is a rapidly progressing field of study that contains facets yet to be fully understood. Here we look at the effect of robot form on user’s level of trust placed on the robot. Form-based trust was evaluated in this study by comparing participant trust ratings based on four robot designs: Lego Mindstorm, Keepon, Sphero and Ozzy. The first view of the robot and the interactions with the robots were examined with pre and post measurements of trust. Sphero and Lego received consistently higher trust ratings than Keepon and Ozzy. Pre-post measures reveal a difference between the initial measure of trust based on form, and the second measure of trust based on the observation of robot function.