Robots May Need to Include Parental Controls
From: Product Design and Development - 04/30/2014
By: Matthew Swayne

Older adults' fears that companion robots will negatively affect young people
may create design challenges for developers hoping to build robots for older
users, according to Penn State researchers.

"Robot designers and developers look at older adults as a central user base
for companion robots," said T. Franklin Waddell, a doctoral candidate in mass
communications. "This effect is something they should consider when designing
the interface for the robots to make sure, for example, that the robot
includes some type of parental controls."

Robots with parental controls may convince adults that they can own and use
robots and still protect children from their fears that the devices might
lead to laziness and dependency.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.pddnet.com/news/2014/04/robots-may-need-include-parental-controls
http://news.psu.edu/story/314066/2014/04/30/research/robots-may-need-include-parental-controls

Link:
T. Franklin Waddell
http://comm.psu.edu/people/individual/frank-waddell

Related:
Humans Feel Empathy for Robots
http://www.pddnet.com/news/2013/04/humans-feel-empathy-robots

"Friendly" Robots for More Realistic Human-Android Relationships
http://www.pddnet.com/news/2014/02/%E2%80%98friendly%E2%80%99-robots-more-realistic-human-android-relationships

Putting a Face on a Robot
http://www.pddnet.com/news/2013/10/putting-face-robot