Exploring the Effect of Anthropomorphic Design on Trust in Industrial Robots: Insights from a Metaverse Cobot Experiment

Collaborative robot (cobot) solutions offer several benefits, among them their cost-effectiveness, easy implementation on the shop floor, and the ability to automate repetitive processes. Increasingly, these systems are powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Cognitive and emotional barriers, however, often prevent a widespread introduction of AI-powered cobot solutions. One potential remedy for this lack of trust may be anthropomorphism, which has been empirically shown to improve the likeability of systems and affect the trust perception of human users. We developed a metaverse collaboration game set in a final assembly environment. At the example of an industrial robotic use case, we investigate the impact of anthropomorphic design on trust in the cobot. We ran a between-subject experiment with a sample size of 65 participants who interacted with a mechanical robot version or the anthropomorphized robot. The perception of the robot's reliability, functionality, helpfulness, and trust increased within each group. Contrary to our assumptions, however, there were no significant differences in the median trust ratings between the anthropomorphically and the nonanthropomorphically designed robot. We discuss the ramifications for industrial human-robot interaction.