GoBot isn’t just some random high-tech toy, it is the latest innovation to tackle childhood inactivity and a sophisticated tool in the fight against the obesity epidemic. These little robots have a custom-built system that looks like it jumped straight out of a child’s dream and is equipped with flashing lights, bubble-blowing capabilities, sound effects, and many more features that were designed to capture and maintain the attention of young children with hope to motivate them to have fun while moving more.
Motivating children to move more
This innovation was created through a collaboration between the Oregon State University’s Colleges of Engineering and Health, and they put their creative idea to the test with individual sessions for 8 children between the ages of 2-3 years old once a week for two months in a room with a toddler-sized Gobot and various other stimulating toys. The findings from the study were published in the Journal of Translational Engineering in Health & Medicine.
The weekly play sessions were broken into three segments, during one of these sessions, the GoBot was not active allowing the child to push and pull the robot around at will. In another session, the GoBot’s movements were keep-away chase maneuvers, and in the third session, the Gobot’s motion was autonomous. However, in either scenario, the GoBot was programmed to reward the child for getting close to it by emitting cheerful sounds, lights, and/or bubbles.
Go go activity GoBot fun!
According to the researchers, the results showed that the children’s activity levels which were measured by multiple sensors and cameras were much higher in the presence of the GoBot active robot. These findings are important because movement plays a significant role in the overall health and well-being of children in both youth as well as later on in adulthood.
“It was interesting to us that the simple autonomous routine worked as well as directly teleoperated control when it came to engaging children,” said the College of Engineering’s Naomi Fitter, who led the study. “That means a relatively low-cost robot playmate – one that offers more intelligence and independence compared to current phone-operated robotic toys – might be feasible in the near future.”
Reducing sedentary behavior
Currently, a significant number of children are far below the recommended physical activity guideline, contributing to the increasing number of children living with obesity and other negative health consequences. Physical activities contribute to cognitive, social, and motor skill development in children, and they also set habits for better psychosocial and cardiometabolic health later on in life, serving as a foundation for the child to build upon a lifetime of healthy habits.
“High rates of sedentary behavior are a big current challenge across many phases of life, and better physical activity at any part can lead to better health outcomes,” said Fitter, who holds the endowed title of Kearney Faculty Scholar.
“Toys that motivate crawling and assist with walking are widespread,” Fitter said, “but there’s a scarcity of toys designed to motivate young children to be active and explore their environments once they are ambulatory.”
While assistive robotics such as the GoBot are designed to entice children into being more active, they are not meant to replace human supervision, interaction, and encouragement. They are however meant to be more efficient and influential than non-embodied technologies such as laptops, phones, and computers which tend to make people sedentary.
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References/Sources/Materials provided by:
Gobot Image Credit: OSU College of Engineering
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10640114
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11379442
https://health.oregonstate.edu/research/publications/101109jtehm20243446511
https://health.oregonstate.edu/research/publications/101109iros55552202310341442
