A Review of Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Interactive Communication

In this paper, an overview of human-robot interactive communication is presented, covering verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of human-robot interaction. Following a historical introduction, and motivation towards fluid human-robot communication, ten desiderata are proposed, which provide an organizational axis both of recent as well as of future research on human-robot communication. Then, the ten desiderata are examined in detail, culminating to a unifying discussion, and a forward-looking conclusion

How chatbots are used in recruitment and selection practices?

In the modern era, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has affected different functions of businesses, including Human Resources, in recruitment processes. With Chatbots (conversational agents) systems in place, HR can perform tasks like identifying, selecting, and interviewing talented candidates with more speed and consequently focus on strategic goals more effectively. This study aims to assess the current state of chatbot usage in HR processes in organisations, particularly in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). For Part Ⅰ, the chatbot’s role is evaluated in detail for each stage of recruitment (i.e., sourcing, screening, selection and onboarding of candidates). Moreover, we will discuss how chatbot providers develop this service in terms of needed technical technologies and communicational aspects. The findings will help identify the best practices in developing better chatbots that align with the demands of modern hiring. In addition, we investigate chatbots’ impact on higher education with the rise of online learning and the Covid-19 pandemic. In part two, we develop a chatbot using the Google DialogFlow platform to support the admission process for prospective PhD students in the Doctoral Management Program of the UPC. This FAQ bot will be implemented as a supplementary channel in the doctoral program website to understand students’ queries and provide predefined answers. A survey is conducted based on the TAM framework to assess the chatbot’s functionality, quality, and intention of use. Based on the responses and findings, we will discuss how chatbots are a viable option to create new innovative services that are helpful for both candidates and educators. In the end, based on lessons learned, we propose conclusions, discussion and several recommendations for these intelligent systems. It is hoped that this work will open up new research possibilities for future optimisations in the fields of chatbots and recruitment in the future.En la era moderna, la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) ha afectado a diferentes funciones de las empresas, incluida la de Recursos Humanos, en los procesos de contratación. Con los sistemas de Chatbots (agentes conversacionales) implementados, HR puede realiza r tareas como identificar, seleccionar y entrevistar a personas candidat as talentos a s con más velocidad y, en consecuencia, enfocarse en objetivos estratégicos de manera más efectiva. Este estudio tiene como objetivo evaluar el estado actual del uso de chatbots en los procesos de recursos humanos en las organizaciones, particularmente en las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES). Para la Parte Ⅰ, el rol del chatbot se evalúa en detalle para cada etapa del reclutamiento (i.e., planificación, abastecimiento, selec ción, verificación de referencias, selección e incorporación de candidatos). Además, discutiremos cómo los proveedores de chatbots desarrollan este servicio en términos de tecnologías técnicas necesarias y aspectos de comunicación. Los hallazgos ayudarán a identificar las mejores prácticas para desarrollar mejores chatbots que se alineen con las demandas de la contratación moderna. Además, investigamos el impacto de los chatbots en la educación superior con el aumento del aprendizaje en línea y la pandemia de Covid19. En la segunda parte, desarrollamos un chatbot utilizando la plataforma Google DialogFlow para apoyar el proceso de admisión de futuros estudiantes de doctorado Doctorado de la UPC. Este bot de preguntas en el Programa de Gestión de frecuentes se implementará como un canal complementario en el sitio web del programa de doctorado para comprender las consultas de los estudiantes y proporcionar respuestas predefinidas. Se realiza una encuesta basada en el marco TAM para evaluar la funcio nalidad, la calidad y la intención de uso del chatbot. Según las respuestas y los hallazgos, analizaremos cómo los chatbots son una opción viable para crear nuevos servicios innovadores que sean útiles tanto para los personas como para los educadores. Al candidat as final, en base a las lecciones aprendidas, proponemos conclusiones, discusión y varias recomendaciones para estos sistemas inteligentes. Se espera que este trabajo abra nuevas posibilidades de investigación para futuras optimizaciones en los campos de los chatbots y el reclutamiento en el futur

User satisfaction of chatbot system

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to identify how the research trend of user satisfaction of chatbots in customer services is presented. As the recent raise of attention in chatbots system, especially in commercial use, the user satisfaction should be considered. The main research question was how is the topic of user satisfaction of chatbot system in customer service presented in the prior academic research? Therefore, it was distributed into 3 sub-questions; how did the amount of research change according to time? How and why did the researchers conduct the research? How did the existing literature evaluate the user satisfaction? Systematic mapping study research methodology was applied in the study. This research methodology considered the prior literature as primary studies then categorized them in order to get answer to research question. The results were how frequency the research had been published based on different scheme. 26 articles were involved as primary studies. The schemes included year of publication, research approach and user satisfaction evaluation approach. The main contribution of this study was to discover trend regarding user satisfaction of chatbot in customer service context. This would help structure academic research area and motivate future research as well as being a guidance for conducting new research. The studied proved that the topic was still received a lot of interest from researchers as number of literatures regarding topic were growing. However, the results also stated that there was still lacking of research in some area or in specific scheme. As this study’s goal is to discover the research trend in order to identify the research gap, the future research is encouraged regarding the gap identified as well as the improvement of this study

Interacting with educational chatbots: A systematic review

Chatbots hold the promise of revolutionizing education by engaging learners, personalizing learning activities, supporting educators, and developing deep insight into learners’ behavior. However, there is a lack of studies that analyze the recent evidence-based chatbot-learner interaction design techniques applied in education. This study presents a systematic review of 36 papers to understand, compare, and reflect on recent attempts to utilize chatbots in education using seven dimensions: educational field, platform, design principles, the role of chatbots, interaction styles, evidence, and limitations. The results show that the chatbots were mainly designed on a web platform to teach computer science, language, general education, and a few other fields such as engineering and mathematics. Further, more than half of the chatbots were used as teaching agents, while more than a third were peer agents. Most of the chatbots used a predetermined conversational path, and more than a quarter utilized a personalized learning approach that catered to students’ learning needs, while other chatbots used experiential and collaborative learning besides other design principles. Moreover, more than a third of the chatbots were evaluated with experiments, and the results primarily point to improved learning and subjective satisfaction. Challenges and limitations include inadequate or insufficient dataset training and a lack of reliance on usability heuristics. Future studies should explore the effect of chatbot personality and localization on subjective satisfaction and learning effectiveness

A conversational agent that evaluates user experience in a virtual reality game

Treballs Finals de Grau d'Enginyeria Informàtica, Facultat de Matemàtiques, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2022, Director: Changhao Wang[en] In the last few years, both chatbots and Virtual Reality games have become a hot topic of discussion. On the one hand, chatbots have been used in recent years, especially for customer service, and on the other hand, VR is being promoted thanks to the commitment of large companies such as Facebook and also thanks to lower equipment costs. However, there has been little discussion on the use of the conversational agent in Virtual Reality games to gather user opinions. The main objective of this project focuses on the creation of a conversational agent, capable of interacting with the user through voice and text, and then integrate it into a Virtual Reality game to evaluate user experience in that immersive environment. Specifically, to pave the way of using conversational interaction in a Virtual Reality environment to improve the efficacy of the evaluation process. We design and create a survey agent using Rasa open source platform. In order to evaluate UX, we use the Game Experience Questionnaire. Finally, we integrate the Rasa agent into a game scene in Unity that works in Virtual Reality environment

Chatbots for Active Learning: A Case of Phishing Email Identification

Chatbots represent a promising approach to provide instructional content and facilitate active learning processes. However, there is a lack of knowledge as how to design chatbot interactions for active learning. In response to this knowledge gap, we conducted an experimental study (n = 164) comparing four modes for providing instructional content in chatbots, with varying demands for cognitive engagement. The four modes – passive, active, constructive, and interactive – were based on the ICAP framework of active learning. The learning content concerned identification of phishing emails and the four modes were distinguished by how the participants were invited to engage with the content during their chatbot interaction. The ICAP modes of higher cognitive engagement required participants to spend more time on the interaction and led to perceptions of higher subjective learning outcome. However, the effects of the different ICAP modes were not found to be significantly different in terms of user engagement, social presence, intention to use, or objective learning outcomes. The study represents an important first step towards understanding the design of chatbots for active learning

Conversational Agents in Education – A Systematic Literature Review

Conversational Agents (CAs) are widely spread in a variety of domains, such as health and customer service. There is a recent trend of increasing publications and implementations of CAs in education. We conduct a systematic literature review to identify common methodologies, pedagogical CA roles, addressed target groups, the technologies and theories behind, as well as human-like design aspects. The initially found 3329 records were systematically reduced to 252 fully coded articles. Based on the analysis of the codings, we derive further research streams. Our results reveal a research gap for long-term studies on the use of CAs in education, and there is insufficient holistic design knowledge for pedagogical CAs. Moreover, target groups other than academic students are rarely considered. We condense our findings in a morphological box and conclude that pedagogical CAs have not yet reached their full potential of long-term practical application in education