Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust

Razanne Abu-Aisheh; Shyamli Suneesh; Tom H Didiot-Cook; Simon Jones; Emanuel Nunez Sardinha; Marcela Munera; Sabine Hauert

doi:10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust

Razanne Abu-Aisheh^*, Shyamli Suneesh, Tom H Didiot-Cook, Simon Jones, Emanuel Nunez Sardinha, Marcela Munera, Sabine Hauert

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

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Abstract

Robot swarms are decentralised systems that use simple rules to achieve collective goals, yet their real-world deployment is limited by a lack of understanding of human trust and perception. This study examines how swarm motion affects the trust of novice users in a service-oriented swarm, using an automated cloakroom as a test case. We conducted 20 human trials, where participants interacted with a swarm exhibiting either structured (grid-like) or organic (adaptive) motion, with performance controlled across conditions. Trust and perception were assessed via self-reporting questionnaires and eye-tracking data. Results indicate that performance and reliability, rather than motion, are the key drivers of trust. However, motion influenced perceived predictability, highlighting its role in designing transparent and user-friendly swarm systems.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages	2260-2265
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9798331587710
ISBN (Print)	9798331587727
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808
Publication status	Published - 3 Nov 2025
Event	2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication: Shaping our hybrid future with robots together - Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands Duration: 25 Aug 2025 → 29 Aug 2025 https://www.ro-man2025.org/

Publication series

Name	IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
Publisher	IEEE
ISSN (Print)	1944-9445
ISSN (Electronic)	1944-9437

Conference

Conference	2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication
Abbreviated title	RO MAN 2025
Country/Territory	Netherlands
City	Eindhoven
Period	25/08/25 → 29/08/25
Internet address	https://www.ro-man2025.org/

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025, IEEE.

Research Groups and Themes

Bristol BioDesign Institute

Access to Document

10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

Full-text PDF (accepted manuscript)
This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM) of the article which has been made Open Access under the University of Bristol's Scholarly Works Policy. The final published version (Version of Record) can be found on the publisher's website. The copyright of any third-party content, such as images, remains with the copyright holder.
Accepted author manuscript, 3.84 MBLicence: CC BY

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Persistent link

UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node In Functionality
Windsor, S. P. (Principal Investigator), Ives, J. C. S. (Co-Investigator), Downer, J. R. (Co-Investigator), Rossiter, J. M. (Co-Investigator), Eder, K. I. (Co-Investigator) & Hauert, S. (Co-Investigator)
1/11/20 → 30/04/24
Project: Research, Parent

Cite this

Abu-Aisheh, R., Suneesh, S., Didiot-Cook, T. H., Jones, S., Nunez Sardinha, E., Munera, M., & Hauert, S. (2025). Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust. In 2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (pp. 2260-2265). (IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

Abu-Aisheh, Razanne ; Suneesh, Shyamli ; Didiot-Cook, Tom H et al. / Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust. 2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2025. pp. 2260-2265 (IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)).

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abstract = "Robot swarms are decentralised systems that use simple rules to achieve collective goals, yet their real-world deployment is limited by a lack of understanding of human trust and perception. This study examines how swarm motion affects the trust of novice users in a service-oriented swarm, using an automated cloakroom as a test case. We conducted 20 human trials, where participants interacted with a swarm exhibiting either structured (grid-like) or organic (adaptive) motion, with performance controlled across conditions. Trust and perception were assessed via self-reporting questionnaires and eye-tracking data. Results indicate that performance and reliability, rather than motion, are the key drivers of trust. However, motion influenced perceived predictability, highlighting its role in designing transparent and user-friendly swarm systems.",

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Abu-Aisheh, R, Suneesh, S, Didiot-Cook, TH, Jones, S, Nunez Sardinha, E, Munera, M & Hauert, S 2025, Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust. in 2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 2260-2265, 2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 25/08/25. https://doi.org/10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust. / Abu-Aisheh, Razanne; Suneesh, Shyamli; Didiot-Cook, Tom H et al.
2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2025. p. 2260-2265 (IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust

AU - Abu-Aisheh, Razanne

AU - Suneesh, Shyamli

AU - Didiot-Cook, Tom H

AU - Jones, Simon

AU - Nunez Sardinha, Emanuel

AU - Munera, Marcela

AU - Hauert, Sabine

PY - 2025/11/3

Y1 - 2025/11/3

N2 - Robot swarms are decentralised systems that use simple rules to achieve collective goals, yet their real-world deployment is limited by a lack of understanding of human trust and perception. This study examines how swarm motion affects the trust of novice users in a service-oriented swarm, using an automated cloakroom as a test case. We conducted 20 human trials, where participants interacted with a swarm exhibiting either structured (grid-like) or organic (adaptive) motion, with performance controlled across conditions. Trust and perception were assessed via self-reporting questionnaires and eye-tracking data. Results indicate that performance and reliability, rather than motion, are the key drivers of trust. However, motion influenced perceived predictability, highlighting its role in designing transparent and user-friendly swarm systems.

AB - Robot swarms are decentralised systems that use simple rules to achieve collective goals, yet their real-world deployment is limited by a lack of understanding of human trust and perception. This study examines how swarm motion affects the trust of novice users in a service-oriented swarm, using an automated cloakroom as a test case. We conducted 20 human trials, where participants interacted with a swarm exhibiting either structured (grid-like) or organic (adaptive) motion, with performance controlled across conditions. Trust and perception were assessed via self-reporting questionnaires and eye-tracking data. Results indicate that performance and reliability, rather than motion, are the key drivers of trust. However, motion influenced perceived predictability, highlighting its role in designing transparent and user-friendly swarm systems.

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DO - 10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

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T3 - IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

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ER -

Abu-Aisheh R, Suneesh S, Didiot-Cook TH, Jones S, Nunez Sardinha E, Munera M et al. Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust. In 2025 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 2025. p. 2260-2265. (IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)). doi: 10.1109/RO-MAN63969.2025.11217808

Towards Understanding the Impact of Swarm Motion on Human Trust

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Research Groups and Themes

Access to Document

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Projects

UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Node In Functionality

Cite this