Children believe robot nannies have feelings, but shouldn’t be paid to work

Using a robot as a nanny seems like a convenient step for parents, but researchers at the University of Washington are trying to determine whether such a move would stunt the “emotional and intellectual growth of children.” So far the team has found that a remote control human-like robot actually gets quite a bit of respect from kids — out of a group of 90 children, 80 percent thought the robot was intelligent, while 60 percent thought it had feelings. More than half of those children also said that they would go to the robo-nanny if they were in need of emotional support or wanted to share some secrets.

But that respect only extends so far. The children didn’t believe that the robot had the right to be paid to work or vote in an election, and most felt that it was okay for it to be bought and sold. While these kinds of nannies are likely quite a ways off, the research team is looking into the problem now to determine how they should be designed in the future. You can check out Robovie the nanny in action below.