Want Your Kids to Read More? Get 'Em a Robot

Behold, Minnie, the artificial reading companion. Look at those eyes. Who wouldn't want to read to a face like that? (Credit: Michaelis and Mutlu, Sci. Robot. 3, eaat5999 (2018)) Back in the day, if parents wanted to encourage their kids to read without, you know, actually reading with them, educational TV programs like Reading Rainbow were the way to go. Now, robots might do the trick, according to a new paper in Science Robotics. It’s Reading Robot Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied the effects that a robot reading companion had on a group of 24 kids ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old. The team programmed the bot, which they named Minnie, to make thoughtful comments on whichever book the kids picked. And to make her seem even more thoughtful and life-like, Minnie fidgeted and averted her gaze when she was talking. To see how her ...