Reported benefits of Pepper centre on motivation and engagement, with social-skill and academic-performance gains reported less frequently¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Twelve of the thirteen studies (92.3%) mention increased student motivation and engagement during robot-mediated activities. → Martinez-Roig 2026 q2 i? Five studies (38.5%) document improvements in social skills or communicative participation, and four (30.8%) report improvements in academic performance. → Martinez-Roig 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Martinez-Roig 2026¶

Martinez-Roig, R., Aragonés-González, M., & Cazorla, M. (2026). Exploring the implementation of the Pepper social robot in formal education: a scoping review. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 15, 22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44322-026-00072-1

q2 · i? · review · r2

Review synthesis of reported benefits across the 13 included studies. The review reports that "Twelve of the thirteen studies (92.3%)" mention increased motivation and engagement, citing increased initial interest in a long-term classroom project and higher enjoyment than tablets in foreign-language activities.

"Twelve of the thirteen studies (92.3%) mention increased student moti - vation and engagement during activities involving the robot."

Martinez-Roig 2026 (2)¶

Martinez-Roig, R., Aragonés-González, M., & Cazorla, M. (2026). Exploring the implementation of the Pepper social robot in formal education: a scoping review. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 15, 22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44322-026-00072-1

q2 · i? · review · r2

Review synthesis of secondary benefit outcomes. The review separately reports that four studies (30.8%) recorded improvements in academic performance measured through specific tests or assessable outcomes, citing grade improvements in university tutoring.

"Five studies (38.5%) document improvements in social skills or communicative participation."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Technical difficulties were the most frequently reported implementation limitation, mentioned in ten of the thirteen studies — related
• Pepper's classroom operation required frequent teacher supervision in over half of the studies, mainly due to voice recognition and technical failures — related
• Pepper has been deployed in three predominant pedagogical roles: tutor/teaching assistant, learning partner or tutored agent, and social mediator in inclusive settings — related
• Empirical research on the Pepper robot in formal education is recent, concentrated in primary education, and dominated by qualitative designs with small samples — related
• In second-language teaching for pupils with special educational needs, Pepper was associated with higher participation than digital tablets — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• RALL studies report learning gains when social robots are used to teach vocabulary, reading skills, speaking skills, grammar, and sign language — related