Sydney, More and more children are growing up with robots at home, but their impact on early learning and development is still largely unknown and unregulated.
Technology has a deep impact on children.
From simple pencils to touch-screen tablets, the information a baby consumes from these devices shapes his behavior and development. Since young humans understand the world around them and learn by observing, interacting, and imitating, their survival is in the hands of caregivers and peers. For the generation of children born today, having a companion at home Maybe something neither of their parents grew up with: robots.This emerging reality, in which infants and children regularly interact with a variety of robotic devices, presents complex challenges for which few people seem prepared. This is a new frontier – socially, legally and morally.
Home robots are becoming increasingly common, taking over tasks like cleaning, cooking, entertaining, and even gardening. Robotic pets can mimic the behavior of real furry friends, without the need for care and feeding. The integration of AI really makes them trainable.Similarly, service robots are appearing in public spaces such as restaurant shops and airports, deployed as servers, cleaners, guides or baristas.
In public and private, humans are active and unpredictable participants in human-robot interactions, and there are no established standards for this innovative technology.
Human-robo interaction is still an area of exploratory research, and robot manufacturers are still looking for strategies to guide effective human-robo interaction in wide and complex scenarios. In this largely unknown realm, 'robot The 'original inhabitants' have a special place.
Over the past decades, more and more children have become regularly exposed to digital devices – smart phones, tablets and similar devices.The notion is that these so-called digital natives develop an understanding of how things work in the digital realm, and quickly master them in a way their parents never could.
Robot natives are different. Children exposed to robots from their earliest days will develop a natural interaction close to how humans relate to each other in everyday life – verbal interaction, non-verbal communication, Sharing physical space and other social activities of humans.
These interactions can offer a rich complexity with unpredictable outcomes – much more than an essentially one-way relationship between a child and a digital device.
But research on very young children's interactions with robots is challenging.Early exploration of the topic and anecdotal evidence point to an urgent need to understand the impact of robots on infants and the development of their social cognitive and physical skills. A range of research on the topic of child-robot interaction can be found: Used to promote new ideas and encourage children's creativity, social robots assess children's emotional state (by analyzing psycho-physiological signals), monitor children's perceptions about robots , the use of humanoid robots and storytelling as a therapeutic tool for children with autism, the design of huggable robots for pediatric care, and the use of the Ultimatum Game to analyze child-robot interactions.
For baby-robot interactions, there are only a few studies, including those using robots to encourage infant leg-motion training through imitation learning and to assess autonomic responses in infants during interactions with robots. Involves the use of thermal infrared imaging. An incarnation.
Efforts are being made to design and test a telepresence robot to interact with infants and young children for use by other family members, such as grandparents. However, this exploratory research will lead to the creation of commercial robots. Moving toward a safe environment requires a multidisciplinary approach to design and regulations to reduce the potential adverse effects of robotic technologies on children and infants.Appropriate guidelines are imperative, as technical, educational, and social issues must be addressed before these services and social robots become widespread, standard technology.
For example, an easy solution is the noise level of robots around children in the home, which manufacturers can fix relatively quickly. However, more complex scenarios, such as how robots verbally and physically interact with infants and children are, raising questions about how such interactions might affect children cognitively and socially.
For example, research pointing to the negative impact of screen time on children's language development shows the unexpected potential for harm in new technologies.
Privacy is another major consideration. Cameras and sensors are essential elements in robots navigating human environments, and they enable them to gather detailed information about their surroundings.This raises questions about how to manage the privacy of interacting with young children and how to establish clear ethical and legal boundaries. In March 2024, the EU endorsed the AI Act, which would establish unacceptable use of AI such as behavior manipulation. Addresses uses. While the legislation is directed at the use of AI, much of it can apply to robots, which are essentially computers capable of interacting with the real world.
Voice-activated toys encouraging dangerous behavior in children is one scenario the Act cites as an explicitly unacceptable risk. Verbal interactions with robots should be treated the same way, to keep families and children safe around robots capable of social interaction.Biometric identification and facial recognition are also features that can generate data for social scoring and other types of classification of humans based on behavior, socioeconomic status or personal characteristics (ethnicity nationality, disability, etc.) when robots interact with children and adults. Timely laws and interaction design guidelines will go a long way in avoiding a dystopian future for robotic natives.
A handbook on human-robot interaction to be published in June 2024 outlines some essential considerations for the design of safe, transparent, traceable non-discriminatory robots for infants and children:
Follow a human-centered design methodology, with extensive testing before commercial release. Develop a strong virtuous philosophy behind the robot design through multidisciplinary discussion and validation – placing the robot's usefulness in an appropriate context that includes all potential Include uses, tasks, and environments in which infants can interact with the robot.
Avoid a technical-solutionist approach.The convenience of using robots must be balanced with the development of our humanity and the humanity of babies. There is no machine, app, or device for every person's needs.
No robot can take the role of a parent. Essential human-to-human contact is the foundation of cognitive, social and emotional development. Collaboration is key. Government, industry and academia need to work together to create rules based on empirical evidence for healthy, sustainable and ethical child-robot interactions.It will take a much greater investment of time and money to design robots responsible for infants and children, compared to building routine service robots for more mundane tasks. However, the effects of past interactive technologies on young humans have provided important lessons about unintended consequences. The new reality is coming, and robot natives deserve a future with well-designed safe robots.(360info.org) PYPY
Technology has a deep impact on children.
From simple pencils to touch-screen tablets, the information a baby consumes from these devices shapes his behavior and development. Since young humans understand the world around them and learn by observing, interacting, and imitating, their survival is in the hands of caregivers and peers. For the generation of children born today, having a companion at home Maybe something neither of their parents grew up with: robots.This emerging reality, in which infants and children regularly interact with a variety of robotic devices, presents complex challenges for which few people seem prepared. This is a new frontier – socially, legally and morally.
Home robots are becoming increasingly common, taking over tasks like cleaning, cooking, entertaining, and even gardening. Robotic pets can mimic the behavior of real furry friends, without the need for care and feeding. The integration of AI really makes them trainable.Similarly, service robots are appearing in public spaces such as restaurant shops and airports, deployed as servers, cleaners, guides or baristas.
In public and private, humans are active and unpredictable participants in human-robot interactions, and there are no established standards for this innovative technology.
Human-robo interaction is still an area of exploratory research, and robot manufacturers are still looking for strategies to guide effective human-robo interaction in wide and complex scenarios. In this largely unknown realm, 'robot The 'original inhabitants' have a special place.
Over the past decades, more and more children have become regularly exposed to digital devices – smart phones, tablets and similar devices.The notion is that these so-called digital natives develop an understanding of how things work in the digital realm, and quickly master them in a way their parents never could.
Robot natives are different. Children exposed to robots from their earliest days will develop a natural interaction close to how humans relate to each other in everyday life – verbal interaction, non-verbal communication, Sharing physical space and other social activities of humans.
These interactions can offer a rich complexity with unpredictable outcomes – much more than an essentially one-way relationship between a child and a digital device.
But research on very young children's interactions with robots is challenging.Early exploration of the topic and anecdotal evidence point to an urgent need to understand the impact of robots on infants and the development of their social cognitive and physical skills. A range of research on the topic of child-robot interaction can be found: Used to promote new ideas and encourage children's creativity, social robots assess children's emotional state (by analyzing psycho-physiological signals), monitor children's perceptions about robots , the use of humanoid robots and storytelling as a therapeutic tool for children with autism, the design of huggable robots for pediatric care, and the use of the Ultimatum Game to analyze child-robot interactions.
For baby-robot interactions, there are only a few studies, including those using robots to encourage infant leg-motion training through imitation learning and to assess autonomic responses in infants during interactions with robots. Involves the use of thermal infrared imaging. An incarnation.
Efforts are being made to design and test a telepresence robot to interact with infants and young children for use by other family members, such as grandparents. However, this exploratory research will lead to the creation of commercial robots. Moving toward a safe environment requires a multidisciplinary approach to design and regulations to reduce the potential adverse effects of robotic technologies on children and infants.Appropriate guidelines are imperative, as technical, educational, and social issues must be addressed before these services and social robots become widespread, standard technology.
For example, an easy solution is the noise level of robots around children in the home, which manufacturers can fix relatively quickly. However, more complex scenarios, such as how robots verbally and physically interact with infants and children are, raising questions about how such interactions might affect children cognitively and socially.
For example, research pointing to the negative impact of screen time on children's language development shows the unexpected potential for harm in new technologies.
Privacy is another major consideration. Cameras and sensors are essential elements in robots navigating human environments, and they enable them to gather detailed information about their surroundings.This raises questions about how to manage the privacy of interacting with young children and how to establish clear ethical and legal boundaries. In March 2024, the EU endorsed the AI Act, which would establish unacceptable use of AI such as behavior manipulation. Addresses uses. While the legislation is directed at the use of AI, much of it can apply to robots, which are essentially computers capable of interacting with the real world.
Voice-activated toys encouraging dangerous behavior in children is one scenario the Act cites as an explicitly unacceptable risk. Verbal interactions with robots should be treated the same way, to keep families and children safe around robots capable of social interaction.Biometric identification and facial recognition are also features that can generate data for social scoring and other types of classification of humans based on behavior, socioeconomic status or personal characteristics (ethnicity nationality, disability, etc.) when robots interact with children and adults. Timely laws and interaction design guidelines will go a long way in avoiding a dystopian future for robotic natives.
A handbook on human-robot interaction to be published in June 2024 outlines some essential considerations for the design of safe, transparent, traceable non-discriminatory robots for infants and children:
Follow a human-centered design methodology, with extensive testing before commercial release. Develop a strong virtuous philosophy behind the robot design through multidisciplinary discussion and validation – placing the robot's usefulness in an appropriate context that includes all potential Include uses, tasks, and environments in which infants can interact with the robot.
Avoid a technical-solutionist approach.The convenience of using robots must be balanced with the development of our humanity and the humanity of babies. There is no machine, app, or device for every person's needs.
No robot can take the role of a parent. Essential human-to-human contact is the foundation of cognitive, social and emotional development. Collaboration is key. Government, industry and academia need to work together to create rules based on empirical evidence for healthy, sustainable and ethical child-robot interactions.It will take a much greater investment of time and money to design robots responsible for infants and children, compared to building routine service robots for more mundane tasks. However, the effects of past interactive technologies on young humans have provided important lessons about unintended consequences. The new reality is coming, and robot natives deserve a future with well-designed safe robots.(360info.org) PYPY
