@article{nokey,

title = {Robot Social Skills: Influencing Children’s Performance and Robot Perception Through a Robot Math Tutor’s Scaffolding and Personalization},

author = {Simone de Droog and Mike Ligthart and Marianne Bossema and Mirjam de Haas and Matthijs Smakman and Lamia Elloumi and Koen Hindriks and Somaya Ben Allouch},

url = {http://digitallifecentre.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Publicatie-IJSR2026_DeDroog_Robot-Social-Skills.pdf},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-025-01338-y},

year  = {2026},

date = {2026-01-27},

urldate = {2026-01-27},

journal = {International Journal of Social Robotics},

volume = {18},

number = {10},

pages = {1-17},

abstract = {Robot tutors can add value in education, but their impact usually differs depending on their social interaction skills. This study disentangled the effect of two specific robot social interaction skills on children’s math performance and their social perception of the robot. The first is to scaffold the explanations to children’s evolving math, and the second to personalize the math conversations to children’s preferences and interests. In a 2 (scaffolding: without vs. with) x 2 (personalization: without vs. with) between-subjects design, 113 children (9–12 years) were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Findings after 4 child-robot interactions showed that scaffolding improved children’s response time but not the correctness of their answers, while personalization increased relationship formation. Examination of the underlying explaining mechanisms revealed that both social skills must be salient enough to have the indented effect, that personalization satisfies children’s need to be understood, and that social presence influences feelings of friendship.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}