A Trustworthy Robot Buddy for Primary School Children

Bibliographic Data

ID8109815
AuthorsMatthijs Smakman (0000-0001-8500-0269, corresponding author), Daniel Preciado (0000-0003-0189-1012), Koen Smit (0000-0002-9790-6241), Sam Leewi (0000-0002-5657-7816), Youri Okkerse, Jesper Obbes, Thom Uffing, Marina Soliman, Tony van der Krogt, Lucas Tönjes
Year2022
Volume6
Issue4
Pages29-29
Publication date2022-04-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMultimodal Technologies and Interaction (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2414-4088 • E-ISSN: 2414-4088
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/mti6040029
OpenAlexW4224297768
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited12

Social robots hold potential for supporting children’s well-being in classrooms. However, it is unclear which robot features add to a trustworthy relationship between a child and a robot and whether social robots are just as able to reduce stress as traditional interventions, such as listening to classical music. We set up two experiments wherein children interacted with a robot in a real-life school environment. Our main results show that regardless of the robotic features tested (intonation, male/female voice, and humor) most children tend to trust a robot during their first interaction. Adding humor to the robots’ dialogue seems to have a negative impact on children’s trust, especially for girls and children without prior experience with robots. In comparing a classical music session with a social robot interaction, we found no significant differences. Both interventions were able to lower the stress levels of children, however, not significantly. Our results show the potential for robots to build trustworthy interactions with children and to lower children’s stress levels. Considering these results, we believe that social robots provide a new tool for children to make their feelings explicit, thereby enabling children to share negative experiences (such as bullying) which would otherwise stay unnoticed

Active listening · Developmental psychology · Feeling · Human–computer interaction · Linguistics · Mobile robot · Psychological intervention · Robot · Robot control · Set (abstract data type · Social robot · Stress (linguistics · Trustworthiness · AI in Service Interactions · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Psychology · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Applied Psychology · Artificial Intelligence · Communication · Social Psychology

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