Social robots' verbal time updates facilitate children's persistence in challenging tasks: A comparison with humans

This study examined whether social robots influence 4–5-year-olds' persistence. Almost all participants (97%) were Japanese. Most participants lived in urban or suburban areas in Osaka and came from middle socioeconomic backgrounds. The data were collected in 2023–2025. In Experiment 1 (N = 108, 45 girls), a robot's verbal time updates enhanced persistence, but robot interactions did not. In Experiment 2 (N = 27, 12 girls), providing time updates from a personal computer (PC) did not increase persistence. In Experiment 3 (N = 54, 24 girls), children worked with a robot (from Experiment 1), a human, or alone. Verbal time updates from both agents increased persistence compared to working alone although children behaved differently, for example, making qualitatively different comments to each agent. Findings indicate that robots and humans can foster children's persistence, though their roles may differ, reflecting robots' growing presence in children's lives.