A biosymtic (Biosymbiotic robotic) approach to human development and evolution

Abstract

We demonstrate that the current Child-Computer Interaction paradigm is not potentiating human development to its fullest. It is linked to several physical and mental health problems and appears not to be maximizing children’s cognitive development and performance. To potentiate children’s physical and mental health (including cognitive development and performance) we conceived a new approach to human development and evolution. This approach proposes a particular synergy between the developing human body, computing machines and natural environments. It emphasizes that children should be encouraged to interact with challenging physical environments offering multiple possibilities for sensory stimulation and increasing physical and mental stress to the organism. We created and tested a new set of robotic devices to operationalize our approach – Biosymtic (Biosymbiotic Robotic) devices.