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To get a better understanding of people's natural responses to humanlike robots outside the lab, we analyzed commentary on online videos depicting robots of different humanlikeness and gender. We built on previous work, which compared online video commentary of moderately and highly humanlike robots with respect to valence, uncanny valley, threats, and objectification. Additionally, we took into account the robot's gender, its appearance, its societal impact, the attribution of mental states, and how people attribute human stereotypes to robots. The results are mostly in line with previous work. Overall, the findings indicate that moderately humanlike robot design may be preferable over highly humanlike robot design because it is less associated with negative attitudes and perceptions. Robot designers should therefore be cautious when designing highly humanlike and gendered robots.

As the field of child-robot interaction (CRI) research matures, and in light of the recent replication crisis in psychology, it is timely to tackle several important methodological challenges. Notably, studies on child-robot relationship formation face issues regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of this complex, comprehensive construct. In addressing these challenges, increased interdisciplinary collaboration is of vital importance. As such, this workshop aims to facilitate ongoing discussion between interdisciplinary experts on the topic of child-robot relationship formation to identify common issues and corresponding solutions (e.g., consistent definitions and rigorous measurement techniques). The workshop will begin with a keynote talk from Dr. Iolanda Leite, followed by discussion surrounding identified challenges. These discussions will be accompanied by intensive break-out groups moderated by senior researchers in the field (i.e., Mark Neerincx and Vanessa Evers). We hope this workshop will set the baseline for standardised methodologies that can later be expanded to other CRI constructs.