Friday 24 July 08:15
- 09:45
Hall: 13 - Room 10 SA
Chair:
Di Dio Cinzia
Discussant:
Manzi Federico
Division: Division 5: Education and School Psychology
This symposium brings together cutting-edge research on the psychological dimensions of human-robot-AI
interaction in educational and developmental contexts. By integrating insights from developmental,
educational, and applied psychology, the session addresses how embodied agents—ranging from baby robots
to generative AI-powered tutors—can support learning, motivation, and inclusion across a variety of
populations and age groups. The first presentation examines cognitive developmental robotics and the
importance of "starting small" in language grounding. It highlights how embodied, incremental learning in
baby robots can overcome limitations of disembodied AI systems like LLMs, offering a model of conceptual
development grounded in sensorimotor and social experience. The second presentation presents the first
empirical evidence on the impact of social robots on task persistence in toddlers aged 18 to 24 months. Using
the child-sized robot CommU, the study explores how praise from a robot can enhance young children's
motivation, suggesting early affective engagement and social awareness toward robotic agents. The third talk
explores how generative AI and LLMs are reshaping human-robot interaction in education. Presenting a
prototype for open-ended spoken dialogue in second-language acquisition, the authors demonstrate how AIenhanced
social robots can adapt dynamically to learners' needs, using both verbal and visual outputs to
foster understanding and sustained engagement. Finally, the fourth presentation turns to long-term
deployment of social robots for autistic children, reporting findings from a four-year implementation of
LuxAI's robots in schools and homes. It emphasizes how sustained, personalized interactions with robots can
support diverse developmental domains—social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic—moving beyond
novelty toward routine integration in daily educational practices. Together, these contributions underscore
the transformative potential of AI and robotics when guided by robust psychological frameworks. As
educational systems worldwide face increasing demand for personalized, inclusive, and scalable learning
tools, this symposium offers timely and rigorous reflections on the opportunities—and responsibilities—of
shaping minds with machines.
