Artificial intelligence has a new job: setting a good example for your kids. It seems that children’s behaviour can be influenced by the personality of a robot companion – playing with an enthusiastic or attentive robot, for instance, made them engage more and work harder.

Researchers ran a series of experiments with Tega, a companion robot that looks like a cross between a Furby and a Teletubby. To test how the robot’s personality could affect the children’s behaviour, they programmed the robot with different responses.