  Comprehensive sex education (SE) is crucial in promoting sexual health and
responsible behavior among students, particularly in elementary schools.
Despite its significance, teaching SE can be challenging due to students'
attitudes, shyness, and emotional barriers. Socially assistive robots (SARs)
sometimes are perceived as more trustworthy than humans, based on research
showing that they are not anticipated as judgmental. Inspired by those
evidences, this study aims to assess the success of a SAR as a facilitator for
SE lessons for elementary school students. This study conducted two experiments
to assess the effectiveness of a SAR in facilitating SE education for
elementary school students. We conducted two experiments, a) a group activity
in the school classroom where the Nao robot gave a SE lecture, and we evaluated
how much information the students acquired from the lecture, and b) an
individual activity where the students interacted 1:1 with the robot, and we
evaluated their attitudes towards the subject of SE, and if they felt
comfortable to ask SE related questions to the robot. Data collected from pre-
and post-questionnaires, as well as video annotations, revealed that the SAR
significantly improved students' attitudes toward SE. Furthermore, students
were more open to asking SE-related questions to the robot than their human
teacher. The study emphasized specific SAR characteristics, such as embodiment
and non-judgmental behavior, as key factors contributing to their effectiveness
in supporting SE education, paving the way for innovative and effective
approaches to sexual education in schools.
