A Yale-led research team will spend the next five years
developing a new breed of sophisticated “socially assistive”
robots for helping young children learn to read, appreciate
physical fitness, overcome cognitive disabilities, and perform
physical exercises. The purpose of the $10 million, federally
funded effort, announced April 3, is to create self-adapting
machines capable of cultivating long-term interpersonal
relationships and assisting pre-school-age children with
educational and therapeutic goals. “The big idea is that we’re
building robots to help kids,” said Brian Scassellati, the Yale
computer scientist who is leading the intensive, multi-
university project. “At the end of five years we’d like to have
robots that can guide a child toward long-term educational
goals, be customized for the particular needs of that child, and
basically grow and develop with the child. We want the robot to
be the equivalent of a good personal trainer.” The robots would
supplement, not replace, human teachers and caregi