Co-Movement and Trust Development in Human-Robot Teams

This chapter delves into the intricate dynamics of trust development within human-robot teams, particularly in emergency service contexts. It examines how co-movement and implicit communication, such as proxemics and kinesics, serve as behavioral indicators of trust. The study presents an experiment involving participants and two rover robots in a large, unstructured environment, where trust was tested under conditions of full and interrupted communications. Key findings include the significant impact of robot proximity on trust development and the correlation between movement synchronization and trust levels. The chapter also explores the concept of 'swift trust' and its components, providing a comprehensive analysis of how nonverbal cues and movement dynamics influence trust in human-robot interactions. Through detailed data analysis and qualitative interviews, the chapter offers a nuanced understanding of trust dynamics in multi-robot systems, highlighting the importance of implicit communication in building and repairing trust. The insights presented here are crucial for advancing the field of human-robot interaction and improving the effectiveness of robot-assisted emergency services.