What Robots Do Matters More Than What They Look Like: Task Context Shapes Trust in Educational HRI

2026-06-12

AI Summary

This study investigates how robot appearance and task type jointly influence user trust in educational human-robot interaction, an area where their interplay remains unclear. Through a within-subjects video-based experiment leveraging large language models to simulate fluent interactive scenarios, the authors examine differences in user trust toward robots of varying appearances across three task contexts: teaching, procedural instruction, and personal information discussion. Results reveal a significant main effect of task type on trust—highest in procedural instruction and lowest in personal information tasks—while robot appearance shows no significant impact. These findings underscore the primacy of task context over physical form in shaping trust, suggesting that the deployment of educational robots should prioritize alignment with task objectives rather than emphasizing anthropomorphic design.

Abstract

Socially assistive robots (SARs) are increasingly deployed in educational and information-sharing contexts, supported by advances in large language models that enable fluent real-time interaction. Despite the growing diversity of robot embodiments, it remains unclear whether a single robot appearance is appropriate across different interaction tasks or whether trust depends primarily on contextual factors. In this study, we examine how robot appearance and task type jointly influence trust in robots. Using a within-subjects video-based experiment (N = 81), participants evaluated three robots with distinct appearances while performing three educationally relevant tasks: teaching, procedural instruction, and personal-information discussion. Results from repeated-measures analyses show a strong main effect of task on trust, with participants reporting the highest trust during instructional guidance, moderate trust during teaching activities, and significantly lower trust when robots requested personal information. In contrast, robot appearance showed no significant main effect, and the interaction between appearance and task was marginal. These findings suggest that trust in human-robot interaction is shaped more strongly by task context than by physical embodiment alone. By focusing on future educators as end users, this work contributes empirical evidence toward task-aware robot deployment in educational environments and highlights the importance of aligning robot roles and behaviors with interaction goals rather than relying solely on anthropomorphic design.

Problem

• trust
• task context
• robot appearance
• educational HRI
• human-robot interaction

Innovation

• task context
• trust
• human-robot interaction
• socially assistive robots
• robot embodiment