Investigating Cross-Agent Trust Transfer: Effects of Informational and Operational Errors in Human-Robot Collaboration

Trust in human-robot teams is critical for effective collaboration, but the dynamics of trust transfer between advisory and executing robots remain underexplored. This study investigated how the accuracy of advice provided by a humanoid robot (NAO) and the execution reliability of a robotic arm (Franka) influence human trust and reliance on advice in a collaborative drawing task. Participants completed three drawing tasks while receiving suggestions from NAO, with NAO providing either accurate or inaccurate advice and Franka executing actions with high or low reliability. Results showed that accurate advice from NAO increased participants’ trust in both NAO and Franka, while inaccurate advice neither increase nor decrease trust in Franka, demonstrating trust spillover and trust resilience. Franka’s execution reliability did not significantly affect adherence to NAO’s suggestions, although low performance in both robots reduced task satisfaction, decreased reliance, and increased deliberation time. These findings highlight the asymmetrical and context-dependent nature of trust transfer in human-robot interaction, emphasizing the importance of both informational accuracy and execution reliability for effective collaboration.