Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 2 · Licensed source edition
The robot that stayed: understanding how children and families engage with a retired social robot
Originally published 2025-08-08 · Frontiers in Robotics and AI
Frontiers Media SA · DOI 10.3389/frobt.2025.1628089 ↗
AI / system type
Book-recognition and preloaded-narration social robot; not generative AI
Direct parenting evidenceDirectly addresses parents or caregiving, including parent studies, syntheses and audits of parenting advice.
The AI connection
Book-recognition and preloaded-narration social robot; not generative AI. Explores affection, memory and disengagement when a child-facing robot becomes obsolete.
Why this reading matters
Rare family evidence about the emotional afterlife of AI products and compassionate transitions away from them.
Editorial reading guide · Kindness
How can we support a child who cares about a robot that no longer works?
Explores affection, memory and disengagement when a child-facing robot becomes obsolete.
Study context
19 Toronto-region families with a Luka reading robot
Age / stage: Originally children aged 3–6; followed up roughly four years later
Read with three questions
- What did families keep doing with the retired robot?
- How did parents interpret children’s affection and memories?
- How does retrospective follow-up differ from continuous observation?
Keep the limits in view
Selected technology-positive families and retrospective recall in one region; not continuous four-year observation. Attachment does not establish improved empathy or safe dependency.
The text below is the original article’s licensed repository edition. Its wording is not rewritten. Use the Paper Agent beside the text to locate evidence; open the source for figures, tables and complete context.
Opening the verified paper and agent…
Checking the article identity, license record, and saved source text.
Open the repository recordAttribution & reuse
Follow the original.
Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Zhao Zhao; Rhonda McEwen (2025). The robot that stayed: understanding how children and families engage with a retired social robot Frontiers in Robotics and AI. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2025.1628089
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.