Guide to build YOLO, a creativity-stimulating robot for children

YOLO is a non-anthropomorphic social robot designed to stimulate creativity in children. This robot was envisioned to be used by children during free-play where they use the robot as a character for the stories they create. During play, YOLO makes use of creativity techniques that promote the creation of new story-lines. Therefore, the robot serves as a tool that has the potential to stimulate creativity in children during the interaction. Particularly, YOLO can stimulate divergent and convergent thinking for story creations. Additionally, YOLO can have different personalities, providing it with socially intelligent and engaging behaviors. This work provides open-source and open-access of YOLO's hardware. The design of the robot was guided by psychological theories and models on creativity, design research including user-centered design practices with children, and informed by expert working in the field of creativity. Specifically, we relied on established theories of personality to inform the social behavior of the robot, and on theories of creativity to design creativity stimulating behaviors. Our design decisions were then based on design fieldwork with children. The end product is a robot that communicates using non-verbal expressive modalities (lights and movements) equipped with sensors that detect the playful behaviors of children. YOLO has the potential to be used as a research tool for academic studies, and as a toy for the community to engage in personal fabrication. The overall bene t of this proposed hardware is that it is open-source, less expensive than existing ones, and one that children can build by themselves under expert supervision.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

시각적, 언어적 피드백을 통한 대화형 에이전트의 성격 표현 및 수행 과제에 따른 성격의 선호도

학위논문(석사)--서울대학교 대학원 :사회과학대학 언론정보학과,2019. 8. 이준환.대화형 에이전트의 심리적이고 감성적인 능력이 인간과 컴퓨터의 자연스러운 관계 형성을 위해 필요로 된다. 대화형 에이전트의 부자연스러운 표현과 반응은 사용자들에게 오히려 반감을 줄 수 있으며, 관계에 부정적인 영향을 끼친다. 감성 컴퓨팅 분야에서 주로 감정을 적용해 이를 해결했다면, 본 연구에서는 성격을 부여함으로써 대화형 에이전트의 자연스러운 피드백과 반응을 표현하고자 한다. 본 연구에서는 대화형 에이전트의 성격을 어떻게 표현할 수 있을지에 대해 탐구했다. 성격 표현 요소들로 선정된 요소들은 시각적 피드백과 언어적 요소들이다. 피험자 간 설계 방식으로, 실험을 실시했는데, 스터디 1에서는 다른 시각적 피드백들에 따른 다섯 가지 성격의 인식을 측정했다. 스터디 2에서는 다른 성별의 목소리와 언어적 요소들에 따른 다섯 가지 성격 인식을 측정했다. 또한, 특정 성격들이 업무수행에 더 적합하다는 관점을 적용하여, 스터디 3에서는 대화형 에이전트가 수행하는 과제들과 성격들에 따라 사용자들의 선호도와 인지한 지적 능력을 측정했다. 스터디 1, 2의 연구 결과에 따르면 시각적 피드백의 색깔에 상관없이 움직임 정도에 따라 사용자들이 인식하는 성격이 달라짐을 확인할 수 있었다. 5가지 성격들 중에, 우호성(agreeableness)을 제외한 성격들에 따른 적합한 언어적 요소들을 확인할 수 있었다. 스터디 3의 연구 결과에 따르면, 대화형 에이전트가 사회적 수행 과제를 제외한 다른 과제들을 수행할 때, 창의성(openness)이 가장 선호되고, 가장 지적으로 여겨졌다. 사회적 과제를 수행하는 대화형 에이전트일 경우에만 외향성이 가장 선호되고, 지능적으로 여겨졌다. 연구 결과들에 따르면, 빠르고, 활발한 움직임의 표현 요소들이 더 뚜렷하며, 긍정적인 성격으로 인식된다. 그리고 대화형 에이전트의 성격에 대한 인식이 목소리의 성별에 따라 달라졌다. 또한, 다양하고, 표현적인 요소들을 사용하는 것이 긍정적인 성격들을 표현하기에 적합하다. 사람들이 대화형 에이전트를 인식할 때 사람들을 인식할 때와 비슷한 패턴들을 적용함을 알 수 있었다.Conversational agents with psychological abilities could facilitate natural communication between humans and computers while conversational agents unnatural expressions and reactions could frustrate users. This research applies the concept of personality to conversational agents to implement natural feedback and reactions. This study explores how to express conversational agents personalities. The selected cues were visual feedback and verbal cues. As a between-participants study design, Study 1 measured the perception of five personalities toward different visual feedback and Study 2 measured the perception of five personalities depending on different verbal cues with voices of different genders. Concerning that certain personalities of conversational agents were considered more suitable for certain tasks, Study 3 investigated the user preference and perceived intelligence toward conversational agents with different personalities and tasks. The study results demonstrate that different motions of visual feedback were highly influential on the perceptions of personalities. Color was not a decisive factor. In addition, except for agreeableness, different verbal cues were perceived as different personalities. For conversational agents performing service, physical, and office tasks, openness was the most preferred and perceived as intelligent. In case of social tasks, the extravert conversational agents were the most preferred and perceived as intelligent. Fast and active visual feedback is suitable to design conversational agents with distinct and positive personalities. In addition, perceptions of conversational agents personalities differed according to the gender of voice. Diverse and expressive cues were suitable for expressing positive personalities. Interactions between conversational agents and humans demonstrated similar patterns of perception as human-human interactions.1. Introduction 1 2. Related work 6 2.1. Expressing machines internal states in Human-Computer Interaction 6 2.2. Personality expressions of computers and interfaces 8 2.3. Combinations of diverse cues 10 2.4. The agents personality and task match 11 3. Study 1 13 3.1. Overview 13 3.2. Study 1-1 14 3.2.1. Experimental materials 14 3.2.2. Experimental setting 16 3.2.3. Results 18 3.3. Study 1-2 25 3.3.1. Experimental materials 25 3.3.2. Experimental setting 26 3.3.3. Results 28 3.4. Results 31 3.5. Discussion 32 3.6. Limitations & Future Studies 36 4. Study 2 39 4.1. Overview 39 4.2. Research questions 40 4.3. Method 41 4.3.1. Experimental materials 41 4.3.2. Experimental setting 44 4.4. Results 45 4.4.1. Result 1: Pitch levels and gender of voices 45 4.4.2. Result 2: Emotionality and Gender of voices 47 4.4.3. Result 3: Wordiness and gender of voices 53 4.4.4. Result 4: Speed and gender of voices 54 4.4.5. Result 5: Questioning and gender of voices 60 4.5. Overall results 63 4.6. Discussion 65 4.7. Limitations 67 5. Study 3 69 5.1. Overview 69 5.2. Method 70 5. Study 3 69 5.2.1. Experimental Materials 70 5.2.2. Manipulation check 73 5.2.3. Experimental Setting 74 5.3. Results 75 5.3.1. Office task 75 5.3.2. Social task 77 5.3.3. Service task 80 5.3.4. Physical task 82 5.4. Discussion 85 6. Conclusions 87 7. Discussion for overall study 91 References 93 Appendix 1. Big Five personality questionnaires 101 Appendix 2. God speed scale questionnaires 102 국문 초록 103Maste

DISEGNARE ROBOT Verso una cultura etica del progetto estetico/DESIGNING ROBOTS Towards an ethical culture of the aesthetic product

Negli ultimi anni i robot di servizio con applicazione in contesti sociali hanno sviluppato linguaggi comunicativi naturali e capacità di interazione sempre più sofisticate e intuiti- ve. Disegnati a somiglianza umana o come disegno di sintesi, questa tipologia di robot è oggetto di un’attività multidisciplinare in cui il Design è coinvolto nel processo progettuale insieme alle ingegnerie, con il supporto dell’antropologia e della psicologia. Il progetto di ricerca HERE intende fornire metodi di analisi quanti/qualitative e linee guida per una progettazione etica di servizi e di prodotti robotici con alto grado di accessibilità e accettazione da parte degli utilizzatori. Il laboratorio di ricerca riguarda gli spazi universitari, dove il robot di telepresenza è configurato come appendice virtuale di uno studente impossibilitato ad essere presente in loco. Over the last years, service robots with applications in social contexts have developed increasingly sophisticated and intuitive natural communication languages and social skills. Designed in human likeness or with synthetic designs, this kind of robot is the subject of a multidisciplinary activity, in which Design is involved in the design project together with engineering, and the support of anthropology and psychology. The HERE research project wants to give quantitative and qualitative analysis methods and guidelines for an ethical planning of robotic services and products with a high level of accessibility and acceptance by users. The research laboratory concerns university spaces, where telepresence robots are set up as virtual appendixes for students that could not be present

Boosting children's creativity through creative interactions with social robots

Creativity is an ability with psychological and developmental benefits. Creative levels are dynamic and oscillate throughout life, with a first major decline occurring at the age of 7 years old. However, creativity is an ability that can be nurtured if trained, with evidence suggesting an increase in this ability with the use of validated creativity training. Yet, creativity training for young children (aged between 6-9 years old) appears as scarce. Additionally, existing training interventions resemble test-like formats and lack of playful dynamics that could engage children in creative practices over time. This PhD project aimed at contributing to creativity stimulation in children by proposing to use social robots as intervention tools, thus adding playful and interactive dynamics to the training. Towards this goal, we conducted three studies in schools, summer camps, and museums for children, that contributed to the design, fabrication, and experimental testing of a robot whose purpose was to re-balance creative levels. Study 1 (n = 140) aimed at testing the effect of existing activities with robots in creativity and provided initial evidence of the positive potential of robots for creativity training. Study 2 (n = 134) aimed at including children as co-designers of the robot, ensuring the robot’s design meets children’s needs and requirements. Study 3 (n = 130) investigated the effectiveness of this robot as a tool for creativity training, showing the potential of robots as creativity intervention tools. In sum, this PhD showed that robots can have a positive effect on boosting the creativity of children. This places social robots as promising tools for psychological interventions.Criatividade é uma habilidade com benefícios no desenvolvimento saudável. Os níveis de criatividade são dinâmicos e oscilam durante a vida, sendo que o primeiro maior declínio acontece aos 7 anos de idade. No entanto, a criatividade é uma habilidade que pode ser nutrida se treinada e evidências sugerem um aumento desta habilidade com o uso de programas validados de criatividade. Ainda assim, os programas de criatividade para crianças pequenas (entre os 6-9 anos de idade) são escassos. Adicionalmente, estes programas adquirem o formato parecido ao de testes, faltando-lhes dinâmicas de brincadeira e interatividade que poderão motivar as crianças a envolverem-se em práticas criativas ao longo do tempo. O presente projeto de doutoramento procurou contribuir para a estimulação da criatividade em crianças propondo usar robôs sociais como ferramenta de intervenção, adicionando dinâmicas de brincadeira e interação ao treino. Assim, conduzimos três estudos em escolas, campos de férias, e museus para crianças que contribuíram para o desenho, fabricação, e teste experimental de um robô cujo objetivo é ser uma ferramenta que contribui para aumentar os níveis de criatividade. O Estudo 1 (n = 140) procurou testar o efeito de atividade já existentes com robôs na criatividade e mostrou o potencial positivo do uso de robôs para o treino criativo. O Estudo 2 (n = 134) incluiu crianças como co-designers do robô, assegurando que o desenho do robô correspondeu às necessidades das crianças. O Estudo 2 (n = 130) investigou a eficácia deste robô como ferramenta para a criatividade, demonstrando o seu potencial para o treino da criatividade. Em suma, o presente doutoramento mostrou que os robôs poderão ter um potencial criativo em atividades com crianças. Desta forma, os robôs sociais poderão ser ferramentas promissoras em intervenções na psicologia