Data from an international study from Hexagon, the global leader in measurement technologies, claims the world’s first “Robot Generation” has arrived. Across nine countries, children are growing up with fundamentally different expectations of robotics than today’s adults, shaped by growing up with AI and new experiences of intelligent technology. Four in five children (80 per cent) say they are excited about robots, compared with 59 per cent of adults. However, that generation gap varies dramatically around the world.
Britain records a 33-percentage point gap in excitement about robots, the largest of any country surveyed, with 80 per cent of children excited compared with 47 per cent of adults. By contrast, the gap is just nine points in China (90 per cent vs 81 per cent), 11 points in India (89 per cent vs 78 per cent), and 12 points in Brazil (87 per cent vs 75 per cent). Overall, the findings suggest the Robot Generation is emerging globally, but adults in some countries are much more enthusiastic than others.
Children’s different levels of excitement may reflect the fact that they are growing up with AI and greater exposure to robotics than previous generations. Globally, 85 per cent have used AI in the past three months, compared with 75 per cent of adults, and nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) see value in accessing AI chatbots through a physical robot, compared with 47 per cent of adults.
Children also have greater real-world exposure to robotics. Nearly six-in-ten (58 per cent) have encountered a robot firsthand, compared with 48 per cent of adults. The contrast is particularly striking in Britain, where adults are more familiar with robots through films, television, books and games (77 per cent) than through real-world encounters (30 per cent).
Meanwhile, robot scepticism is rife in British adults; they record one of the highest levels of concern over robots (52 per cent), compared with 44 per cent in China and 29 per cent in South Korea. The stark divide suggests that both familiarity and the nature of that exposure, whether through fiction or real-world encounters, could play a powerful role in shaping how people perceive robots.
The divide between today’s adults and tomorrow’s workforce becomes even clearer in the workplace. Robots are already widely accepted as assistants, with 71 per cent of adults and 76 per cent of children comfortable with them in that role. But acceptance falls as robots are given greater status and authority, and the generations begin to diverge when robots move from assistants to colleagues.
Children are almost 50 per cent more likely than adults to be excited about working alongside a robot colleague (59 per cent vs 40 per cent). In Britain, that workplace divide is particularly pronounced, with 58 per cent of children saying they would be excited to work alongside a robot colleague, compared with just 28 per cent of adults. What’s more, globally, 20 per cent of children compared with 14 per cent of adults believe robots could be the boss.
“This isn’t about preparing for a world where robots replace people,” said Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon. “It’s about preparing for one where people work alongside intelligent machines every day. The biggest barrier to that future may not be the technology, but whether today’s adults are ready for it. Children are already growing up comfortable with AI and increasingly familiar with robotics, and we need to make sure the rest of society isn’t left behind.”
