Children with and without reading difficulty value robot reading companions that are smart, supportive, and personalised

As social robots are being increasingly deployed in educational settings, it is critically important to understand which design features make robots most likely to be accepted by children and to deliver benefits in education contexts. To deepen our understanding of young readers’ expectations, needs, and desires for a robot that supports reading, we conducted co-design sessions followed by a semi-structured interview with children aged 5–9 years (30 children with typical reading and a case series of five children with poor reading, of which four were enroled in reading interventions at the time the study was conducted and were regularly attending one-on-one reading remediation sessions). We applied a mixed-method approach including thematic analysis of interview data using a reflexive and inductive approach. The children in this study designed robots that could deliver reading-specific support alongside more general emotional support. Key functional features and capabilities included prosocial behaviours (smiling, play, and conversation), breadth of knowledge that assumed access to information about many topics, including core academic skills (reading and mathematics). Key aesthetic features included colourful, compact, and customisable designs. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of social robots to support reading and suggest that children are very much open to interacting with reading robot companions.