Learning Robotics, with Robotics, by Robotics

Conclusion and Perspectives

This book aimed to investigate the emerging field of ER from a psychological perspective. Three main learning paradigms of ER have been examined: learning robotics, with robotics and by robotics. Due to the novelty of this field, fundamental issues of research have been approached:

• – what is an educational robot: its ontological and pedagogical status, according to students’ representation;
• – to what extent do users accept the robot as a functional and social agent and which factors are susceptible of influencing the dynamics of human–robot trust;
• – how do educational robots impact on learning processes (cognitive, affective, social and meta-cognitive dimensions of learning) and results (knowledge and competencies).

Results of the three experimental studies that we carried out to answer to these research questions show that:

• – Learning robotics fosters a more nuanced judgment on the ontological status of a robot, but a more definite judgment about its educational status: after having constructed and programmed a robot, students’ assignment of robots to the category of living entities is more graded, while attribution of pedagogical roles (object, tool and companion) to robots is more clear-cut.
• – Learning with robotics raises users trust in the robot as functional agent, while trust in the robot as a social agent is rather limited. Desire for control, attitude toward social influence of robots, and type of interaction scenario did not have an impact ...