Monday, February 2, 2026

Individual Differences Shape Young Children’s Engagement With Social Robots


Social robots  interactive machines designed to engage with humans in a lifelike way  are moving beyond science fiction and into real learning environments for young children. Researchers around the world are now uncovering how children’s individual traits influence their interactions, engagement, and even learning outcomes when they partner with robots.
 
Recent studies in human-robot interaction show that children between 5 and 8 years old often prefer interacting with a robot tutor over a human instructor during learning tasks like puzzles and problem-solving. In experiments where children worked on tasks with both robot and human instructors, researchers found that kids gazed longer at the robot and engaged in more social referencing  that is, looking to adults nearby for cues on how to interpret the robot’s behavior.

This suggests that robots capture attention in a unique way, partly due to their novelty and physical presence  characteristics different from tablets or non-interactive media.

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