Pawsitive patch: Using a robotic dog in children's animal welfare education

Zoomorphic robots are a promising substitute for live animals in situations where their involvement is impractical or impossible. One significant application is in animal welfare education, which plays a key role in shaping children’s relationships with animals and the natural world. In this work we present the evaluation of an educational intervention using a custom zoomorphic robot that communicates dog sentience and welfare needs to 10–11-year-old children (N = 104). The results show that the intervention as a whole is an effective animal welfare education intervention, as it succeeded in improving children’s belief in dog sentience, recognition of dog emotions, knowledge of dog welfare needs, and attachment to pets. While there was no significant effect of the zoomorphic robot over the same intervention delivered using a stuffed toy, children who interacted with the robot reported higher intrinsic motivation to participate in the intervention, suggesting potential future use as a proxy animal, particularly to sustain engagement in longer-term interventions.