Playtime over, a toddler says nighty-night and spreads a blanket on the floor on top of his silver-colored friend. It is an everyday scene at one US nursery school, where robots are immersed among children to find out what it takes for machines and humans to develop long-term relationships.

The experiment jointly run by Sony is revealing that children, with their open minds, can welcome and even develop emotions toward the robots, leading to new commercial possibilities as machines become smarter and friendlier.

While Sony is undergoing business restructuring and has no plans to develop new models of its iconic QRIO humanoid or AIBO robodog, it is continuing to study artificial intelligence to apply in future electronic products.

Fumihide Tanaka remote-controls the robot from a hidden place for some 80 percent of the immersion sessions, with the humanoid moving on its own for the rest of the time.

In one experiment, researchers brought in the robot to take part in the children’s dance sessions and found that the toddlers would spend longer in the room if the humanoid was among them. On average, toddlers would stay in the room for twice as long when the robot was around.

To contrast with the biped, researchers also gave the toddlers a simple toy that looked like a robot but cannot move by itself.

The toy, named Robby, was handled roughly and constantly shoved to the ground — behavior the toddlers would not show to their beloved walking, dancing humanoid.

Initially the robot would often fall over due to inconsiderate treatment. But after one to two months, the children would help the robot get back to its feet. Within three months, the toddlers would never allow the robot to fall.

“They are adapting themselves to the robot and empathizing with it, although nobody teaches them to do so,” Tanaka says.

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