« Such A Cute Piggy Bank | Main | Harnessing Wind Power With Sails »
November 6, 2007
Kids Bond With Robots
A landmark research project conducted by UCSD completed a 5 month study on human-robotic interactions. The study placed QRIO, Sony's artificially intelligent robot in a classroom with toddlers. By the end of the study, the children not only came to accept the robot but also treated it as an equal.
Researches initially limited what QRIO could say and do. Children seem to only interact if there's reciprocation. Another robot was also introduced with no programming as a control and the children ignored it, simply regarding it as a toy. As the researchers increased the amount of activity in QRIO, the children responded. They started to refer to QRIO as a person, calling it by its name. When QRIO fell, the children would help it up and give it encouragement. When QRIO laid down on the floor as its batteries ran down, a toddler would put a blanket over his silver-colored body and say "night-night".
It's not exactly a surprise since humans display a great propensity to bond with both people and objects, but the study is already receiving criticism citing a matter of ethics. The children were not happy when QRIO left and tho it's the longest study of its kind, there's no data on long term interactions between children and robots.
You can read the complete study in the National Academy of Sciences.
Posted by tranism at 11:54 AM | Permalink