Is Robot Alive?: Young Children`s Perception of a Teacher Assistant Robot in a Classroom
Eun Ja Hyun , Soo Ryun Son
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate young children`s perceptions of a teacher assistant robot, IrobiQ. in a kindergarten classroom. The subjects of this study were 23 6-year-olds attending to G kindergarten located in E city, Korea, where the teacher assistant robot had been in operation since Oct. 2008. Each child responded to questions assessing the child`s perceptions of IrobiQ`s identity regarding four domains: it`s biological, intellectual, emotional and social identity. Some questions asked the child to affirm or deny some characteristics pertaining to the robot and the other questions asked the reasons for the answer given. The results indicated that while majority of children considered an IrobiQ not as a biological entity, but as a machine, they thought it could have an emotion and be their playmate. The implications of these results are two folds: firstly, they force us to reconsider the traditional ontological categories regarding intelligent service robots to understand human-robot interaction and secondly, they open up an ecological perspective on the design of teacher assistant robots for use with young children in early childhood education settings.
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