Long-Term Integration of a Robot in an Inclusive Daycare: An Ethnographic Study Focused on Children and Caregivers

Embedding social robots in educational and/or childcare settings has potential to engage children while supporting caregivers. However, little is known about the practical, long-term integration of robots in such settings. Our work addresses this gap through an ethnographic study that adopts a year-long perspective toward a socially assistive robot in an inclusive daycare with a four-month robot deployment phase. Through Thematic Analysis, we highlight children's ability to develop a variety of self-determined interactions with the robot, while unveiling caregivers' need for its integration into structured routines such as meal times, as well as challenges for robustness of the robot in our research setting. On this basis, we make recommendations for the design of social robots for daycare environments.