Inclusive Play Through Robotic Toys and Accessible Design: A Child-Centered Approach

This study explores the integration of modular robots into children's play to promote inclusion and participation, particularly for children with disa-bilities. Robotics fosters accessibility, enabling children to interact auton-omously and collaboratively, overcoming physical and social barriers. However, designing robots specifically for play, rather than education or therapy, remains underexplored. The FROB (Family of ROBots) two-year project (2023-2025) is implemented in inclusive educational settings with preschool and primary school children. Using a spiral development meth-odology and a child-centered experimental methodology with multiple case studies, the project examined children's interactions with the designed ro-bots in different play scenarios. This contribution presents the second phase of the project, focusing on the initial experimental cycle with sys-tematic observations of children's interactions. Key issues emerged regard-ing robotic functionality and scenario accessibility, leading to adjustments of robot modules, materials, and play environments. Findings suggest that robots can foster spontaneous, cooperative play and enhance peer interac-tion. The approach, merging robotic innovation with pedagogical insight, offers valuable perspectives for designing inclusive play tools and future research.