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Robot Becomes One of the Kids

Posted by kdawson on from the everybody-say-awwww dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have found that toddlers treat a small robot as a peer rather than a toy. A team from the University of California, San Diego, placed Sony's QRIO in a classroom of kids aged 18 months to 2 years and watched them interact. Over time the children grew to treat the robot as one of them — playing games with the robot, hugging it, and covering it up with a blanket when its batteries ran down."

15 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. They do the same with a dog.. by moogied · · Score: 5, Insightful
    or any pet for that matter.

    For example.. take this sentence:

    games with the robot, hugging it, and covering it up with a blanket and replace robot with dog.

    Would that be news worthy? No. Why? Because its in the nature of most children to play games and take cares of others(because that is what people do to them.) This does not mean they see it as a peer. They see it as a pet.

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    So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
    1. Re:They do the same with a dog.. by mdobossy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      and replace robot with dog. What I found most interesting, however, is the difference between how the children interacted with 1) a more "robotic" control robot, 2) the "more human" robot when it ceases to act "more human". Sure a kid will nurture/care for a pet, but it is very different than how they treat a stuffed animal/toy.
    2. Re:They do the same with a dog.. by Itninja · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To an 18 month old child, I doubt there much difference between the way they treat a pet and the way they treat a peer. For that matter, between nearly any object and a peer. Children will anthropomorphize anything. I've seen kids try to share their PB & J sandwich with a VCR. Is the VCR a peer? I guess in some abstract, childish way, it is. The real test is when they start competing with a parent for the affections of the robot. I still think my Mom likes her Roomba more than me....

      --
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    3. Re:They do the same with a dog.. by joshuac · · Score: 5, Funny

      I still think my Mom likes her Roomba more than me....

      Wrong appliance.
    4. Re:They do the same with a dog.. by Kingrames · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Our soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq were the target of a similar study, and you'd be surprised to know that the results were similar. Many of our troops were visibly upset and shaking after the "death" of a bomb-detonating robot designed for the SOLE PURPOSE of walking over to a bomb and detonating it. It even reached the point where they asked for military command to stop using the robots for such "inhumane" missions.

      You make it sound like this is childish behavior, but I think that perhaps even you might exhibit some of it too given enough time with a similar robot.

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      If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
  2. Cue "Robot Overlord" jokes! by iknownuttin · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...but a new study shows that a giggling robot is sophisticated enough to get toddlers to treat it as a peer.

    "Robot Overlord" jokes are actually on topic!

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    I prefer Flambe as apposed flamebait.
  3. A brain the size of a planet by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    and they put me in the middle of a room full of toddlers.

    Life? Don't talk to me about life.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  4. Not surpised. by Thornburg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As the father of a 2 year old and a 4 year old, I am not at all surprised that the children behaved this way. Kids in that age group have very few prejudices, and have a very down to earth perspective, so if something looks and acts vaguely like they do, they treat it with respect (in their own way).

    Note that the researchers correlate treating something with some respect to treating it like a human. Many people (both children and adults) treat pets or other non-human animals in this manner.

    Robiticists are apparently excited by this, but I'm going to guess (based on the fairly short linked story (yes, I RTFA), that sociologists and/or psychologists will great this with a resounding "DUH!".

    (Disclaimer: I am not a roboticist, sociologist, or psychologist).

  5. Awww...... by EjayHire · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, maybe it's a girl thing, but kids putting a blanket over the robot when his batteries run down is about the sweetest thing I have ever heard.
    -e

    (and she notes that she called it "his", inferring gender to the asexual robot.)

    1. Re:Awww...... by mstahl · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nah it's not just you. I'm a guy and I seriously awww'd loud enough that the whole office took notice. It's seriously the most adorable thing I've read in a few days.

  6. Not only that... by Shauni · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People are probably more likely to "socialize" with a robot if they can put it in its own separate category easily. Interacting with a non-human intelligence yet human container is bound to be disturbing (it's one of the sources of the uncanny valley)

  7. Re:So? by Thornburg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mod parent "Didn't RFTA". (aka Overrated)

    The researches had a control robot that didn't interact but was otherwise the same, and the kids treated them very differently.

    Half your point is valid, but the flippant comment is inaccurate and demonstrates that you didn't take the 90 seconds necessary to read the very short article.

  8. Re:yeah.. by bcharr2 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most young children also treat inanimate dolls or stuffed animals as peers

    You raise a good point. The study also utilized another robot that simulated a inanimate doll or stuffed animal. The article states:

    The children also treated QRIO with more care and attention than a similar-looking but inanimate robot that the researchers called Robby, which acted as a control in the experiment. Once they had grown accustomed to QRIO, they hugged it much more than Robby, who also received far more rough treatment.
  9. Alphie by kisrael · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was an only child in a neighborhood without many kids.
    I really liked "Alphie", this game playing robot (circa 1979).
    Had him for years, then let some other kids play with him and he broke.

    Lesson learned: other kids suck.

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  10. Kids 'n Roombas by bradgoodman · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I just love "researchers"....

    I don't know this study has anything to do with "robots". Children this age engage in all kinds of "imitative" play. And what are they imitating? Their parents - young kids (like mine) will feed, nurse, change, put to bed, their dolls, stuffed animals, etc. The "robot" is just another vehicle (no pun intended) for this.

    That being said, my kids love the Roomba. Before they could even walk, they knew exactly how to turn it on - and would crawl all over the kitchen, chasing it around! My 2-year old son would lie down next to it and put his arm around it! (Until he accidentally turned it on, and he ran screaming away from it smack into a door on the other side of the kitchen!)

    I was shocked the other day when I mentioned some thing about turning on the Roomba, and my 14-month old crawled over to it, pressed the "on" button, then the "clean" button - then when it made its "beep-beep-beep" (meaning it's about to start) - she quickly dropped to her hands and crawled quickly away from it, perfectly perpendicular to what would be it's travel-path off it's docking station. I shouldn't have been surprised, her second and third words were "Robot" and "Roomba"!

    So, they're toys like any other to the kids - but obviously a lot more fun! :-)