Shall I trust you? From child-robot interaction to trusting relationships

Studying trust in the context of human-robot interaction is of great importance given the increasing relevance and presence of robotic agents in various social settings, from educational to clinical. In the present study, we investigated the acquisition, loss and restoration of trust when preschool and school-age children played with either a human or a humanoid robot in-vivo. The relationship between trust and the representation of the quality of attachment relationships, Theory of Mind, and executive function skills was also investigated. Additionally, to outline children\u2019s beliefs about the mental competencies of the robot, we further evaluated the attribution of mental states to the interactive agent. In general, no substantial differences were found in children\u2019s trust in the play-partner as a function of agency (human or robot). Nevertheless, 3-years-olds showed a trend toward trusting the human more than the robot, as opposed to 7-years-olds, who displayed the reverse pattern. These findings align with results showing that, for children aged 3 and 7 years, the cognitive ability to switch was significantly associated with trust restoration in the human and the robot, respectively. Additionally, supporting previous findings, a dichotomy was found between attribution of mental states to the human and robot and children\u2019s behavior: while attributing significantly lower mental states to the robot than the human, in the trusting game children behaved similarly when they related to the human and the robot. Altogether, the results of this study highlight that comparable psychological mechanisms are at play when children are to establish a novel trustful relationship with a human and robot partner. Furthermore, the findings shed light on the interplay \u2013 during development \u2013 between children\u2019s quality of attachment relationships and the development of a Theory of Mind, which act differently on trust dynamics as a function of the children\u2019s age as well as the interactive partner\u2019s nature (human vs. robot)

Young Children’s Representational Structures of Robots’ Behaviors

Despite the fact that the sophisticated technologies are a substantial component of children’s everyday environment, of the space within which they act, play and learn - the world of complex technological systems (their characteristics, and the knowledge and skills involved in operating, designing and programming them) is almost ignored in the preschool and elementary school curriculum. The study reported in this paper is part of a research plan embedded in the implementation of a comprehensive curriculum aiming to support the development of technological thinking in kindergartens, including knowledge and skills in areas such as design, the artifacts in our material culture, smart artifacts and robotic systems, or programming. This particular study aimed to address young children’s (aged 5-8) perception of the adaptive behavior of a robot and the representational-structures (or functioning schemes) they adopt to think about how its behaviors are generated and controlled. When children think about the robot’s behavior, they may adopt different perspectives that translate into different representational structures, (e.g., one-time episodic representation; a script that can became a reusable routine; a universal representation such as a rule of behavior). The findings evidence the high ability of young children engaged in programming to think in terms of abstract rules and to use these for programming and designing a robot’s behavior

CENTRIC 2018 : The Eleventh International Conference on Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services

Over the next years smart Internet-connected toys are expected to grow significantly in numbers. Our study explores smart toys’ potential to deliver experiences related to playful learning. One key aspect of toys, such as the CogniToys Dino, Fisher-Price’s Smart Toy Bear and Wonder Workshop’s Dash Robot are their game-based and toy-based features and functions, which are suggested to have educational outcomes when used in play. Through a comparative investigation of toy marketers’, preschool teachers’ and the parents’ of preschoolaged children’s perspectives of smart toys potential—and a comparison to the actual play experiences of preschoolers discovered in earlier stages of research, we demonstrate how the educational potential of contemporary smart toys may be categorized into game-based and toy-based affordances that may be employed for specific educational goals in playful learning. Keywords - game-based learning; Internet of Toys (IoToys); play; preschoolers; smart toys.</p

Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life: An Investigation of Young Children's Beliefs About Intelligence and Animacy

The goal of this research project is to identify the source of children's ideas about the intelligence capabilities of robots. If children's beliefs are influenced by naïve biology theories, there is likely to be a strong relationship between animacy judgments (whether an entity is alive or not) and judgments of intelligence. However, if children's beliefs are influenced by prior experience with robots, there is no reason to assume intelligence and animacy would be related; rather, degree of prior exposure to robots would influence children's beliefs about robots' intelligence capabilities. Results suggest a relationship between animacy judgments and intelligence for children with little prior exposure to robots. For children with greater exposure, there is less of a relationship between intelligence and animacy judgments. Additionally, children with greater exposure attributed more intelligence to the robots than children with little exposure. It would seem that children with little robot experience are guided by their naïve theories of biology, while children with significant robot experience use ideas gathered from their prior experiences to make judgments about the intelligence capabilities of robots

Mejorar la adquisición de la lengua extranjera a través de STEAM y las inteligencias múltiples en Educación Infantil

In recent years, the rapid pace of social change and increasing globalization have made it necessary to prepare new generations to deal with the world’s issues through critical thinking, effective communication, and cooperation. Therefore, this project intends to investigate STEAM, which stands for stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics; and Multiple Intelligences (MI), approaches that focus on the mentioned issues, and combining them as a way to foreign language acquisition in Infant Education. In order to do so, the project contains a suggested proposal design whose main goal is enhancing foreign language acquisition through STEAM and Multiple Intelligences in Infant Education. The proposal follows the project topic “wild animals” and aims to approach the oral use of the foreign language in communicative situations in the classroom.En los últimos años la rapidez en los cambios sociales y la creciente globalización han hecho necesario preparar a las nuevas generaciones para afrontar los problemas del mundo mediante el pensamiento crítico, la comunicación eficaz y la cooperación. Por ello, este trabajo pretende investigar STEAM, que significa Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería, Arte, y Matemáticas; y las Inteligencias Múltiples, métodos que se centran en los temas mencionados, combinándolos como una vía para la adquisición de la lengua extranjera en Educación Infantil. Para ello, el trabajo contiene una sugerencia de propuesta cuyo objetivo principal es potenciar la adquisición de la lengua extranjera a través de STEAM y las Inteligencias Múltiples en Educación Infantil. La propuesta sigue el tema “animales salvajes” y pretende abordar el uso de la lengua extranjera en situaciones comunicativas en el aula.Grado en Educación Infanti

A systematic review of game technologies for pediatric patients

[EN] Children in hospital are subjected to multiple negative stimuli that may hinder their development and social interactions. Although game technologies are thought to improve children's experience in hospital, there is a lack of information on how they can be used effectively. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on the existing approaches in this context to identify gaps for future research. A total of 1305 studies were identified, of which 75 were thoroughly analyzed according to our review protocol. The results show that the most common approach is to design mono-user games with traditional computers or monitor-based video consoles, which serve as a distractor or a motivator for physical rehabilitation for primary school children undergoing fearful procedures such as venipuncture, or those suffering chronic, neurological, or traumatic diseases/injures. We conclude that, on the one hand, game technologies seem to present physical and psychological benefits to pediatric patients, but more research is needed on this. On the other hand, future designers of games for pediatric hospitalization should consider: 1. The development for kindergarten patients and adolescents, 2. Address the psychological impact caused by long-term hospitalization, 3. Use collaboration as an effective game strategy to reduce patient isolation, 4. Have purposes other than distraction, such as socialization, coping with emotions, or fostering physical mobility, 5. Include parents/caregivers and hospital staff in the game activities; and 6. Exploit new technological artifacts such as robots and tangible interactive elements to encourage intrinsic motivation.This work is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Development Regional Fund (EDRF-FEDER) with Project TIN2014-60077-R.El Jurdi, S.; Montaner-Marco, J.; García Sanjuan, F.; Jaén Martínez, FJ.; Nácher-Soler, VE. (2018). A systematic review of game technologies for pediatric patients. Computers in Biology and Medicine. 97:89-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2018.04.019S891129