What Can Robots Teach Us About Trust and Reliance? An interdisciplinary dialogue between Social Sciences and Social Robotics

TL;DR

This paper advocates for an interdisciplinary approach combining social sciences and social robotics to better understand trust in human-robot interactions, aiming to develop a comprehensive framework.

Contribution

It introduces a dialogue between disciplines to integrate social science insights into trust, enhancing understanding of trust dynamics in human-robot relationships.

Findings

Trust in robots is complex and multifaceted.

Interdisciplinary insights can improve trust frameworks.

A more grounded understanding of trust can inform robot design.

Abstract

As robots find their way into more and more aspects of everyday life, questions around trust are becoming increasingly important. What does it mean to trust a robot? And how should we think about trust in relationships that involve both humans and non-human agents? While the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) has made trust a central topic, the concept is often approached in fragmented ways. At the same time, established work in sociology, where trust has long been a key theme, is rarely brought into conversation with developments in robotics. This article argues that we need a more interdisciplinary approach. By drawing on insights from both social sciences and social robotics, we explore how trust is shaped, tested and made visible. Our goal is to open up a dialogue between disciplines and help build a more grounded and adaptable framework for understanding trust in the evolving world of human-robot interaction.