Investigation of factors that promote communication between children and robots

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K13309
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10020:Educational psychology-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Ban Midori 大阪大学, 基礎工学研究科, 特任助教(常勤) (30755658)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: ヒューマンロボットインタラクション / 擬人化 / 描画 / 幼児 / 想像力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we examined how we could elicit a robot’s anthropomorphism by interacting with it. We set up a group of preschool children to behave similarly to the mechanical-looking robot, and another group to behave differently from it. Children were asked to draw the robot before and after playing with it, and we used an indicator of whether they anthropomorphized the robot's drawing. The results showed that the group that behaved similarly to the robot was more likely to draw it with a face and eyes after playing with it. In other words, these findings suggest that anthropomorphism could be elicited toward the robot by imitating it.

Free Research Field

発達心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ロボット産業は，今後20年で現在の約10倍の市場に成長することが予測されており，パートナーロボットの市場は，特に大きな成長が見込まれている。それにもかかわらず，ロボットとどのような関わりを持つことが子どもにとって望ましいかについて，未だ研究が少ない。そのため，本研究において，子どもがロボットと遊ぶなかで，ロボットの擬人化を引き出し，ロボットと自然なコミュニケーションをもてる関わり方を明らかに出来たことは，将来的に教育現場や家庭にロボットが導入された際，子どもが怖がったり，飽きたりしないための具体的かつ有益な知見となることが期待される。