Human-centred design methods : developing scenarios for robot assisted play informed by user panels and field trials

Original article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Copyright ElsevierThis article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC1 project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions.Peer reviewe

Toddlers and Robots? The Ethics of Supporting Young Children with Disabilities with AI Companions and the Implications for Children’s Rights

Rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) pose new ethical questions for human rights educators. This article uses Socially Assistive Robots (SARs) as a case study. SARs, also known as social robots, are AI systems designed to interact with humans. Often built to enhance human wellbeing or provide companionship, social robots are typically designed to mimic human behaviors. They may look endearing, friendly, and appealing. Well-designed models will interact with humans in ways that feel trustworthy, natural, and intuitive. As one of the fastest-growing areas of AI, social robots raise new questions for human rights specialists. When used with young children with disabilities, they raise pressing questions around surveillance, data privacy, discrimination, and the socio-emotional impact of technology on child development. This article delves into some of these ethical questions. It takes into account the unique vulnerabilities of young children with disabilities and reflects on the long-term societal implications of AI-assisted care. While not aiming to be comprehensive, the article explores some of the ethical implications of social robots as technologies that sit at the boundary of the human and nonhuman. What pitfalls and possibilities arise from this liminal space for children’s rights

Multilingual and Multicultural Educational Space: Creative Writing of Russian–speaking Children in the UK

This article presents the qualitative study of bilingual children from Russian-speaking families living in the UK. Our findings offer novel insights and contribute to existing theoretical, methodological, and empirical research on multilingual and multicultural educational space through a new lens of study process of bilingual children imagination. It brings a new focus to existing work in this area through its consideration of creating writing as a reflection of complex educational space in post-literacy era. We collected the creative stories which were written by children who participated in concurs “Once it dreams for me”. The narrative and content analysis show popular topics based on specific cultural tradition and habitus of migrant families. We argued that these children stories have both cultural elements British and Russian, which were formed in the British mainstream and the Russian Saturday schools. One of the main points of children’s stories is the “Internet in their everyday life”. It shows how children learn and go through the process of acquisition of cultural knowledge in post-literacy era using new technologies. Also, the findings contribute to the discussion of the epistemology of children behaviour and motivation at a time when visual and creative reflection have begun more important that direct answer to explicit researchers questions. Expanding on the existing literature in this area, the article investigates creative story writing as a two-way process influencing both the transnational cultural and the transnational education space. Keywords: bilingual children, multicultural educational space, Russian-speaking familie

The integration of the Internet of Toys in early childhood education: A platform for multi-layered interactions

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal on 3 March 2020, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1735738.This paper presents findings from an on-going international study of early childhood educators’ and children’s use of new digital technologies, such as the Internet of Toys (IoToys) and the pedagogic interactions which occur when these artefacts are integrated into classrooms. Based on qualitative methodology, data have been collected in four countries: Australia, Norway, Scotland and England. Data collection includes observations of interactions with IoToys (written and video), multimedia messages (digital images, videos), short written reflections and consultations with the children. Findings across all countries show that IoToys offers a platform for interactions to become multidirectional, multidimensional and multimodal. Examining the interactions in the ecology of the playroom, this study calls for pedagogy involving IoToys to provide a platform for children’s rich symbiotic explorations, creativity, collaboration and problem solvin

Museum Experience Design: A Modern Storytelling Methodology

In this paper we propose a new direction for design, in the context of the theme “Next Digital Technologies in Arts and Culture”, by employing modern methods based on Interaction Design, Interactive Storytelling and Artificial Intelligence. Focusing on Cultural Heritage, we propose a new paradigm for Museum Experience Design, facilitating on the one hand traditional visual and multimedia communication and, on the other, a new type of interaction with artefacts, in the form of a Storytelling Experience. Museums are increasingly being transformed into hybrid spaces, where virtual (digital) information coexists with tangible artefacts. In this context, “Next Digital Technologies” play a new role, providing methods to increase cultural accessibility and enhance experience. Not only is the goal to convey stories hidden inside artefacts, as well as items or objects connected to them, but it is also to pave the way for the creation of new ones through an interactive museum experience that continues after the museum visit ends. Social sharing, in particular, can greatly increase the value of dissemination

Children's Construction of Fantasy Stories

While much work has been done on sex role development in children, conflict resolution, and sex role stereotyping in literature and television, little research has investigated conflict resolution and stereotyping in the fantasies children create themselves. The present study, analyzing gender differences in children's writing of fantasy stories, found significant differences in conflict resolutions they created. Boys used more violent resolutions to solve problems, while girls used more reasoning and analysis. Stories written by both sexes were— more often than not— sex role stereotyped, with female characters in traditional occupations and passive activities