Exploring the Role of Trust and Expectations in CRI Using In-the-Wild Studies

Abstract

Studying interactions of children with humanoid robots in familiar spaces in natural contexts has become a key issue for social robotics. To fill this need, we conducted several Child–Robot Interaction (CRI) events with the Pepper robot in Polish and Japanese kindergartens. In this paper, we explore the role of trust and expectations towards the robot in determining the success of CRI. We present several observations from the video recordings of our CRI events and the transcripts of free-format question-answering sessions with the robot using the Wizard-of-Oz (WOZ) methodology. From these observations, we identify children’s behaviors that indicate trust (or lack thereof) towards the robot, e.g., challenging behavior of a robot or physical interactions with it. We also gather insights into children’s expectations, e.g., verifying expectations as a causal process and an agency or expectations concerning the robot’s relationships, preferences and physical and behavioral capabilities. Based on our experiences, we suggest some guidelines for designing more effective CRI scenarios. Finally, we argue for the effectiveness of in-the-wild methodologies for planning and executing qualitative CRI studies.

The Power of Robot-mediated Play: Forming Friendships and Expressing Identity

“…Much research has been done on designing AI social robots to support children with cognitive and physical disabilities [ 25 – 30 ], sensory disabilities [ 31 ], learning disabilities [ 32 ], child development [ 33 ], and autism spectrum disorder [ 34 – 37 ]. Additionally, much research has been conducted more broadly on child-robot interactions [ 38 – 40 ], infant-robot interactions [ 41 , 42 ], robots for social isolation [ 6 ], and child-computer interactions (in HCI) [ 43 , 44 ]. Studies have also explored children interacting with robots for playful learning related to the associations between sounds and colors [ 45 ] and as cooperative co-players in interactive playgrounds [ 46 ].…”

Applications and Trends in Social Robotics

“…Zguda et al [3] explored the role of trust and expectations towards Pepper robots in determining the success of the interactions in Polish and Japanese kindergartens and present several observations from the video recordings of their Child-Robot Interaction (CRI) events and the transcripts of free-format question-answering sessions with the robot using the Wizard-of-Oz (WOZ) methodology. From these observations, they identified children's behaviors that indicate trust (or lack thereof) towards the robot, e.g., challenging behavior of a robot or physical interactions with it.…”