Egg-Laying Robot to Enhance Mind Perception of Children and Parents

Abstract

The lifelikeness of social robots is important for building more natural relationships with humans. Although the lifelikeness of the way a robot behaves and its appearance has been explored, few studies have focused on mimicking the life cycle. In this study, we focused on egg-laying, one of the life cycles, and developed a robot capable of simulated egg-laying. Using the developed robot, we experimentally evaluated the effects of egg-laying behavior on the robot's lifelikeness and mind perception. After observing the egg-laying, there was no statistically significant difference in the lifelikeness, however, the children and parents of the participants in the experiment perceived the robot's mind significantly more.