University of California researchers found, in a Sony-sponsored study last year, that toddlers in fact have a shocking propensity to bond with robots. The experiment saw a child-size robot named “QRIO” introduced into a children’s classroom at the University, caught amidst a group of impressionable youngsters. Surprisingly, it was embraced wholeheartedly.
“QRIO” was controlled by observers and made to laugh, walk, dance, and sit periodically. His behaviors were accepted by the children after only a short while, and they grew noticeably more comfortable with him. Apparently they also began to respect him as a they would a human over their 27 sessions together. This was observed by the researchers in the ways the children made contact with or touched the robot. The toddlers started out touching “QRIO’s” face, showing their removal from him as a human entity, but as they grew more familiar, they began touching him only on the hands or arms. The interactions were reminiscent of those between two regular toddlers, researchers expounded. Kids also threw a blanket over QRIO when his battery power drained, as if putting him to bed. Even more positive responses were collected from the toddlers when QRIO adopted a full spectrum of emotion during the last three sessions.
I feel like the research here was conducted wonderfully, with a random sample of toddlers, who were selected for their unaffected perception of robots. A commendable control was set up in the form of another robot named “Robby,” who was not programed for any action whatsoever. The kids treated the control with no affection whatsoever, displaying human behavior and familiarity’s true importance in the matter.
Sony researchers also earn my respect for their wariness in carrying out further action. They point out, and rightly so, that negative effects may still be yet uncovered. I think most would agree with me when I say that social transition would likely be paired right along with widespread robotic companionship. Children might, for instance, begin to find greater solace with their motherchip-guided automatons than with same age kids in school. We might suddenly discover people shrinking away from their own society due to greater comfort in another. Nevertheless, the results from this study are fascinating. If children were brought up with no preconceived notions about robots- no fear of them- then the things could certainly become a mainstay of our society. Independent companions who comfort rather than put at unease: that is what humanity stands to gain out of this type of careful, heartily constructed research
It’s a brave new world out there. We must simply be wary of the possible repercussions of our actions.
