Imagine the Future with Social Robots - World Robot Summit's Approach: Preliminary Investigation

The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence's Report of the 2015 Study Panel [1] predicts artificial intelligence (AI) to "enhance education at all levels, especially by providing personalization at scale" (p. 31). Interactive machines are already tutoring students in classrooms. It is anticipated that in the near future, social robots will become integral part of schools to enhance student learning experiences. This paper reports the preliminary investigation of participating students' experience through a new robotics competition focusing on the use of a social robot as a standard platform robot for primary and secondary school students. This report is part of a larger study of the World Robot Summit Junior Category 'sSchool Robot Challenge. The School Robot Challenge at the Junior Category of the World Robot Summit (WRS), inspired by the WRS 's aim to envision a society where humans and robots coexist and collaborate together, prepares students to participate in robotics and A.I. research and development in the future by offering a new robotics competition for students to design Co-Bot experience (human-robot co-existence) at school, hosted by the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).