  Social robots are increasingly introduced into children's lives as
educational and social companions, yet little is known about how these products
might best be introduced to their environments. The emergence of the "unboxing"
phenomenon in media suggests that introduction is key to technology adoption
where initial impressions are made. To better understand this phenomenon toward
designing a positive unboxing experience in the context of social robots for
children, we conducted three field studies with families of children aged 8 to
13: (1) an exploratory free-play activity ($n=12$); (2) a co-design session
($n=11$) that informed the development of a prototype box and a curated
unboxing experience; and (3) a user study ($n=9$) that evaluated children's
experiences. Our findings suggest the unboxing experience of social robots can
be improved through the design of a creative aesthetic experience that engages
the child socially to guide initial interactions and foster a positive
child-robot relationship.
