Daniel Patrick Davison

Evaluation methods for user-centered child-robot interaction

This review examines recent methodological approaches for the evaluation of child-robot interaction in learning settings. The main aims are to map existing work from a user-centered perspective, to identify possible trends related to evaluation methods for child-robot interaction, and to discuss potential future directions. We present a systematic review of existing studies, which have been thematically organized based on their research objectives. We then examine the evaluation methods that were used in these studies and we propose a conceptual framework based on the one hand on the themes that emerged, namely the social interaction between the child and the robot, the social acceptance, possible emotional interactions, the learning process and the learning outcome, and on the other hand on the corresponding measures. These methods have been considered in relation with the age ranges of the children, because of the relationship of their cognitive level to the choice of a developmentally appropriate evaluation method. We use this framework to highlight current trends and needs for the field and to contextualize the methodological directions for child-robot interaction. Finally, we discuss the challenges and limitations of the current methodological approaches as well as possible future directions for the evaluation methods of child-robot interaction in learning settings.

Towards a synthetic tutor assistant: The EASEL project and its architecture

Robots are gradually but steadily being introduced in our daily lives. A paramount application is that of education, where robots can assume the role of a tutor, a peer or simply a tool to help learners in a specific knowledge domain. Such endeavor posits specific challenges: affective social behavior, proper modelling of the learner’s progress, discrimination of the learner’s utterances, expressions and mental states, which, in turn, require an integrated architecture combining perception, cognition and action. In this paper we present an attempt to improve the current state of robots in the educational domain by introducing the EASEL EU project. Specifically, we introduce the EASEL’s unified robot architecture, an innovative Synthetic Tutor Assistant (STA) whose goal is to interactively guide learners in a science-based learning paradigm, allowing us to achieve such rich multimodal interactions.

The EASEL Project: Towards Educational Human-Robot Symbiotic Interaction

This paper presents the EU EASEL project, which explores the potential impact and relevance of a robot in educational settings. We present the project objectives and the theorectical background on which the project builds, briefly introduce the EASEL technological developments, and end with a summary of what we have learned from the evaluation studies carried out in the project so far.

Measuring Children’s Perceptions of Robots’ Social Competence: Design and Validation

This paper presents the design and validation of a measurement instrument for children’s perceptions of robots’ social competence. The need for a standardized validated instrument has emerged as a requisite for meta-analyses and comparisons among various studies in the field of child-robot interaction. We report on the development of the instrument and its validation, which adopted a design-based method with two iterations. We used construct validity, which was formed by divergent and convergent validity. Children’s perceptions of three different robotic platforms were examined in two empirical studies with 78 children aged 7–9 years, which was based on semi-structured interviews with qualitative thematic content analysis. The results indicated that children differentiate their perception of social competence depending on the perceived intentionality of the robot and they ascribe discrete categorizations to the robot such as a machine, social artifact and social agent. The findings are discussed in relation to existing literature.

Snoozle -- A Robotic Pillow That Helps You Go to Sleep: HRI 2017 Student Design Competition

Not getting enough sleep is detrimental to our health and productivity, yet we have difficulty to maintain consistent bedtimes. Technological solutions to this problem mostly focus on detecting sleep patterns and providing feedback on them. We felt there was an opportunity for a perspective that concentrates on ones subjective experience. We propose Snoozle, an actuated pillow that supports consistent bedtimes by inviting users to bed, and improves the sleeping experience by enhancing the feeling of co-presence. In this proposal, we present how the concept of Snoozle developed from structured brainstorms, storyboards and sketches. We discuss the actuated pillow behavior and the envisioned interaction, and we detail our next steps.

Child, Robot and Educational Material: A Triadic Interaction

The process in which a child and a robot work together to solve a learning task can be characterised as a triadic interaction. Interactions between the child and robot; the child and learning materials; and the robot and learning materials will each shape the perception and appreciation the child has of himself or herself, of the robot, and of the learning task. This paper discusses several experiments aimed at uncovering some of the dependencies inherent in this model of triadic interaction, and suggests steps towards developing more accurate measurement tools.