SFU researcher's humanoid robot studied how children learn in real summer camp settings

A humanoid robot deployed across seven summer camps in 2025 gave researchers at the University of Northern British Columbia a rare window into how children naturally interact with autonomous social machines — away from the controlled lab environments that have dominated the field.

Assistant Professor Shruti Chandra led the study with graduate student Ramin Kupaei and undergraduate students Piyush Daryanani, Mohammad Olaniyan and Anupriya Shaju. The robot was integrated into Active Minds summer camp, where it played 10 game-based learning activities tailored to different developmental stages while the team observed from the background.

Approximately 150 children aged 6 to 12 participated over two months. The research revealed that autonomous social robots can be integrated into classroom settings and are generally well accepted by children, though with age-specific differences in engagement and perception. "Most prior research on child and robot interactions was studied in controlled or laboratory situations," Chandra explained. "Children behave differently outside the lab, and technologies that perform well under controlled conditions may not translate effectively into everyday use." The team published their findings — titled "Social robots on the loose: Supporting children's independent learning in the wild" — at the 21st Association for Computing Machinery/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Based on the success of the 2025 study, Chandra's team is planning new research on how tangible, embodied interactions with social robots can support children's learning.