Dressing Trust: Exploring the Impact of Clothing Co-Design on Disclosure and Attitudes in Children - Social Robots Interaction

Trust is fundamental in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and can be influenced by factors such as the robot’s appearance, and texture. Research suggests that children can develop trust with robots, particularly humanoid ones; however, other studies raise concerns about robotic behaviors and the extent to which they are perceived as trustworthy. In this study, we investigate whether the co-designing of clothes for a Socially Assistive Robot (SAR) affects their trust in the SAR, specifically the Nao robot. Children aged 7-10 in small group workshops created with the needle felting technique clothes for Nao, guided by the robot itself and an expert. Each child made their own piece of clothing. Their a) trust, b) empathy, c) perceived liveliness, and d) negative attitudes before and after making the clothes were assessed with pre-post questionnaires, indicating a significant increase in trust and empathy. After making the clothes, each child interacted alone with 3 Nao robots; one with default appearance, one dressed in the clothes they made, and one with other similar clothes, and were invited to share a secret wish with one of them. Behavioral observations, individual interviews and linguistic analysis of the wishes, provided insights into factors influencing children’s trust and appearance preferences in HRI. Results indicated that most children chose to confide in the robot who wore their crafted outfit, expressing personal desires grammatically with the verb ’wish’ in contrast to the children who shared immediate desires with the verb ’want’ and chose the default robot. Finally, interviews indicated that the primary characteristics that make a SAR trustworthy to children are kindness, intelligence, anthropomorphism, and helpfulness.