  Research in child-robot interactions suggests that engaging in "care-taking"
of a social robot, such as tucking the robot in at night, can strengthen
relationships formed between children and robots. In this work, we aim to
better understand and explore the design space of caretaking activities with 10
children, aged 8--12 from eight families, involving an exploratory design
session followed by a preliminary feasibility testing of robot caretaking
activities. The design sessions provided insight into children's current
caretaking tasks, how they would take care of a social robot, and how these new
caretaking activities could be integrated into their daily routines. The
feasibility study tested two different types of robot caretaking tasks, which
we call connection and utility, and measured their short term effects on
children's perceptions of and closeness to the social robot. We discuss the
themes and present interaction design guidelines of robot caretaking activities
for children.
