Technological and interpersonal trust in child-robot interaction: An exploratory study

This study aimed to explore technological and interpersonal trust in interactions between children and social robots. Specifically, we focused on whether children distinguish between these two types of trust and whether the two constitute independent constructs or interact. Using an exploratory approach, we analyzed the explanations 87 children, aged 7 to 11 years, offered for the degree to which they indicated to trust a robot with which they had just interacted. Our results suggest that children distinguished between technological and interpersonal trust in a robot. Three main categories of answers could be identified: answers relating to technological trust, those indicating the presence of interpersonal trust, and a third category in which children referred to technological properties of robots as a reason for the existence of interpersonal trust. We discuss these findings in light of the development of child-robot relationships and the design of future child-robot interaction studies.