Do Robotic Tutors Compromise the Social-Emotional Development of Children?

Frontiers in Robotics and AI

Robotics and AI

Elly A. Konijn¹  Matthijs H. J. Smakman²  Paul A. Vogt³ 

[1] Department of Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Department of Communication Science, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Institute for Information and Communication Technology, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands;School of Communication, Media and IT, Research Group Digital Transformation, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands;

关键词: social robots;    child-robot interaction;    education;    social development;    primary school;    social skills;    bonding;    friendship;   

DOI  :  10.3389/frobt.2022.734955

 received in 2021-07-01, accepted in 2022-01-07,  发布年份 2022

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Social robots are reported to hold great potential for education. However, both scholars and key stakeholders worry about children’s social-emotional development being compromised. In aiming to provide new insights into the impact that social robots can have on the social-emotional development of children, the current study interviewed teachers who use social robots in their day-to-day educational practice. The results of our interviews with these experienced teachers indicate that the social robots currently used in education pose little threat to the social-emotional development of children. Children with special needs seem to be more sensitive to social-affective bonding with a robot compared to regular children. This bond seems to have positive effects in enabling them to more easily connect with their human peers and teachers. However, when robots are being introduced more regularly, daily, without the involvement of a human teacher, new issues could arise. For now, given the current state of technology and the way social robots are being applied, other (ethical) issues seem to be more urgent, such as privacy, security and the workload of teachers. Future studies should focus on these issues first, to ensure a safe and effective educational environment for both children and teachers.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2022 Smakman, Konijn and Vogt.