Parental expectations, concerns, and acceptance of storytelling robots for children

Abstract

Robots that tell children stories are becoming common. Given that the practice of parent-child storytelling is part of family culture, it is critical to investigate parental acceptance of storytelling robots. Drawing on technology acceptance models, the theory of planned behavior, and Bowen family systems theory, we conducted a mixed-methods study involving an online survey of 115 respondents and 18 in-person interviews. We aimed to propose a model of parental acceptance of storytelling robots contextualized in potential use case scenarios. Preliminary findings indicate an overall positive attitude towards children's storytelling robots and identify factors that can affect parental acceptance of these robots. This study may inform the design of storytelling robots tailored to the needs of parents and their children in the home.