Asking Today the Crucial Questions of Tomorrow: Social Robots and the Internet of Toys

Social robots and the Internet of Toys represent key technologies in children’s future lives. Based on Winfield (Robotics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012), we conceptualize the relationship between social robots and smart/connected toys with six characteristics: interactivity, energy, sensors, software control, movement and embodiment. These characteristics, in turn, help to classify social robots and smart/connected toys along three dimensions (i.e. horizontal, vertical and spatial integration), which suggests that the difference between social robots and smart/connected is rather subtle. We identify three common theoretical (absence or heterogeneity of theory, lacking developmental perspective, insufficient attention to intercultural differences) and three methodological issues (lack of standardized measures, study design issues, dominance of cross-sectional studies) that research on both social robots and the Internet of Toys needs to address.

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