Can robots be used as a vehicle for the projection of socially sensitive issues? Exploring children´s attitudes towards robots through stories

This paper presents results from a study that explored children´s attitudes of robots using a qualitative approach in the form of writing stories. This approach was chosen as complimentary to quantitative methods using questionnaires that were previously used to enquire about children´s attitudes and perceptions towards both physical, emotional and personality aspects of robots. Results suggest that narrative can be a useful tool to elicit children´s attitudes about robots, allowing them to explore their past experiences about bullying behaviour in a novel and safe context.