Factors Affecting the Intimacy Level Between Children and Robots

Abstract

This paper presents three related experiments designed to identify factors that may affect the level of intimacy between children and a robot placed in a kindergarten setting. In total, 68 children aged three to five took part in the experiments, where they were instructed to share four or five stickers with a robot as they wished. Data were collected by means of video-taping and by interviewing the motivations of the children for their conducts in the experiment. The results of the study suggest the following factors that may affect the extent to which a child feels intimacy towards a robot: gender, age, prior experiences with a robot, interaction time with a robot, and the perception of robot appearance design.