Robots are becoming increasingly prominent in our society. They are no longer simply used to carry out practical tasks, but nowadays also engage in social interactions with people. Robots that can interact with people in a meaningful way are called ‘social robots’. Not only adults, but also children increasingly encounter social robots. To a child, such a robot can be a conversation partner, but also an educational tool. Because while relatively little is known about child-robot interaction, robots rapidly become more present in children’s lives. Therefore, the CHILDROBOT project aims to investigate the interaction between children and social robots.
CHILDROBOT is financially supported by a grant from the European Research Council to Professor Jochen Peter. Professor Peter and his team (Rinaldo Kuhne, Alex Barco Martelo, Caroline van Straten, and Chiara de Jong) together aim to answer three questions. First, which factors play a role in children’s (long-term) robot acceptance? Second, how do social relationships between children and robots emerge, and which factors influence the development of closeness and trust? And third, which social skills can children learn from a social robot? To learn more about this project, please visit the project website: https://childrobot.org or email the team at
