What are the benefits of adaptation when applied in the domain of child-robot interaction?

There is great potential for robotic devices when being applied with children. They can be used from play to assistive applications. We develop robotic devices for a diverse range of children that differ in age, gender and ability, which includes children that are diagnosed with cognitive difficulties such as autism. Every child is an individual and they vary in their personalities and styles of interaction. Therefore, being able to adjust the robot´s behaviour to the type of interaction it is receiving was believed to be essential. In this abstract we examine a series of trials which investigated how adaptation (through changes in motion and sound) on a fully autonomous rolling robot could help gain and sustain the interest of five different children. We discovered surprising benefits to having adaptation on-board Roball.