This study presents novel strategies to investigate the mutual influence of trust and group dynamics in children-robot interaction. We implemented a game-like experimental activity with the humanoid robot iCub and designed a questionnaire to assess how the children perceived the interaction. We also aim to verify if the sensors, setups, and tasks are suitable for studying such aspects. The questionnaires' results demonstrate that youths perceive iCub as a friend and, typically, in a positive way. Other preliminary results suggest that, generally, children trusted iCub during the activity and, after its mistakes, they tried to reassure it with sentences such as: "Don't worry iCub, we forgive you". Furthermore, trust towards the robot in group cognitive activity appears to change according to gender: after two consecutive mistakes by the robot, girls tended to trust iCub more than boys. Finally, no significant difference has been evidenced between different age groups across points computed from the game and the self-reported scales. The tool we proposed is suitable for studying trust in human-robot interaction (HRI) across different ages and seems appropriate to understand the mechanism of trust in group interactions.
翻译:这项研究提出了调查信任和群体动态对儿童-机器人互动的相互影响的新战略。我们与人类机器人iCub开展了类似游戏的实验活动,并设计了一个问卷,以评估儿童如何看待这种互动。我们还旨在核实传感器、设置和任务是否适合研究这些方面。问卷结果显示,年轻人认为iCub是朋友,而且通常以积极的方式。其他初步结果显示,一般来说,儿童在活动期间信任iCub,在错误之后,他们试图用诸如“不要担心iCub,我们原谅你”这样的句子来安慰它。此外,对于团体认知活动中的机器人的信任似乎会随着性别而变化:在机器人连续两次犯错后,女孩对iCub的信任程度往往高于男孩。最后,在从游戏和自我报告尺度中计算出的各点的不同年龄组之间没有明显区别。我们建议的工具适合于研究对不同年龄的人-机器人互动的信任(HRI),并且似乎适合于理解群体互动的信任机制。