Scientists have developed a robot friend for children that teaches them how to live and interact with other children. The robot, which is of course Japanese, is called QRIO, and was recently used in a study to see how children would react to it. At first, children approached the similar-sized robot like, WTF is this? Eventually, though, they became friends. The kids played with it, cried when it fell down, said “nighty night” to it when the Sandman arrived, etc. The children accepted the robot as one of their own.
If it can help “fix” anti-social children then neat-o, but I reserve the right to call is creepy.
Children bond with their robot playmates [The Guardian]