Effect of Walking with a Robot on Child-Child Interactions

Abstract

To promote psychosocial development in children, a number of efforts are being made to improve child-child interactions. In this paper, we determine whether walking with a robot has a positive effect on child-child interactions. We developed a walking-together system consisting of two methods of walking: (1) walking hand in hand and (2) following a person by tracking the face. After applying the system to Pepper, a humanoid robot, we conducted the field experiment in a science museum in two phases. The first phase was in an open laboratory, setting in which people (including children) freely interacted with the robot. The second phase was the experimental setting in which 2-3 children simultaneously interacted with the robot. We observed the kinds of child-child interactions that occurred in the two phases of the experiment. We also determined what would be important to generate longer child-child interactions by walking together.