Human-robot interaction engagement strategies for children’s education

Abstract

Assistive and Educational Robotics is one of the world’s highest profile areas of Human- Robot Interaction. Regarding this aspect, recent literature review indicates that the use of social robots in the educational domain has attracted significant attention in recent years. Fueled in particular by the growing numbers of students per classroom, and the demand for greater adaptation of curricula for children with diverse needs, bringing efforts into the re- search of technology-based support that enhances the efforts of parents and teachers. It also elicits positive benefits for learners of various degrees and abilities, including musical educa- tion, driven in particular by the engagement generated within the physical presence of the robot. Computer-based technologies can support music education in developing an individ- ual’s acoustic performance and composition skills, including supporting distance learning and strengthening self-efficacy and independent skill learning. Technologies can reinforce existing learning strategies and encourage more people to learn music. Engagement, in this sense, is critical in avoiding giving up and inducing an individual’s interest in developing further learn- ing horizons. For instance, there is evidence that anthropomorphic embodiment features can engage users. As such, robot designers can improve successful HRI features, selecting from a window of validated robot embodiment features, such as robot motion, facial expressions, voice pitch, and voice speed, enhancing human perception while enriching social encounters. While the relationship between engagement, social robots, and learning is evident, hence the number of published works that intersect these topics, little is known about what it is in the robot’s appearance that promotes learning. Even further, which physical attributes/features are ideal in such environments, representing an interesting HRI problem and a gap in the current state of the art. In order to better comprehend the role of the robotic embodiment in the context of learning and eliciting, which in these elements falls into the preferences and thus engages the target audience, the present work then focuses on the comparison of two social robot models running the same Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) applications target- ing the context of music education for children, underlying the design choices favored by the target audience on the running tasks. The evaluation used an experimental remote protocol supporting collecting online feedback with users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical results supported performing quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the HRI application and highlighting the perceived differences in robot embodiment features.