Project Introduction: What Is Trust, Really? Rethinking Human-Robot Interaction Through Design
In this article, Dr. Valeria Macalupu, postdoctoral researcher in QUT’s Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) program at the Australian Cobotics Centre, explores a new strategic project aimed at fostering trust in human-robot collaboration. While engineers typically prioritize functionality and reliability, real-world deployment often reveals a deeper challenge: if users feel uneasy or disconnected, robot adoption can falter.
Dr. Macalupu’s project, co-funded by the QUT Design Lab, investigates how design affordances, such as physical form, materials, and expressive behaviours can enhance trust between humans and robots, focusing on how visual, tactile, and behavioural cues can signal competence and emotional safety. This innovative approach aims to create robots that are not only functional but also intuitive, approachable, and safe for human users, particularly in manufacturing environments. The project is set to offer practical design guidelines to improve human-robot interactions and contribute to the development of more empathetic and effective robotic systems.
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