SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Social Robots: A Meta-Analysis of Learning Outcomes
Joost de Winter 1
Dimitra Dodou 1
Fleur Moorlag 1
Joost Broekens 2
1. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
2. Universiteit Leiden Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden, Netherlands
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Abstract
Previous meta-analyses show that social robots aid learning but were often limited in scope or grouped diverse control conditions together. This meta-analysis examined learning outcomes, focusing on control condition type. We retrieved 146 studies (Google Scholar and reference searches) where a physical social robot was used for training cognitive skills, comprising 183 post-test effect sizes between the robot and the control group, and 372 pre-post effect sizes. Analysis of the 78 studies with control groups indicated that robots generally improved learning, most notably when compared to no intervention (d = 0.75). Comparing robots to human teachers yielded an overall positive effect (d = 0.31), although effect sizes varied widely. This variability was explained by the robot’s role: robots in a co-teaching capacity showed a strong positive effect (d = 0.88), while robots replacing the teacher showed no benefit (d = -0.06). Sentiment analysis showed that papers from outside Europe used more positive language when describing the robots. We conclude that the effect size is influenced by the robot implementation and the control condition chosen.
Summary
Keywords
cognitive skills, Educational Robotics, human-robot interaction, Learning, social robot
Received
29 October 2025
Accepted
17 December 2025
Copyright
© 2025 de Winter, Dodou, Moorlag and Broekens. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Joost de Winter
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.