Should robots win or lose? Robot's losing playing strategy positively affects child learning

Kairat Balkibekov, Serik Meiirbekov, Nazgul Tazhigaliyeva, Anara Sandygulova

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents a study that aims to address the challenges of creating effective educational robots. To this end, we developed a social educational robot which acts as a peer that is also a learner of a foreign language rather than a tutor teaching it. Children engage in a game with a peer robot which is programmed to either always win or always lose. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether children would learn more if they were winning or losing the game to the robot. The study was conducted with 76 children aged 6-10 years old. The conducted study compares children's responses and children's improvements of English vocabulary after a game with the robot. Results indicate that children improve their English significantly more when playing with the losing robot. In addition, girls rated playing with the robot significantly higher than boys did regardless of the robot's playing strategy.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2016
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages706-711
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781509039296
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 15 2016
Event25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2016 - New York, United States
Duration: Aug 26 2016Aug 31 2016

Publication series

Name25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2016

Conference

Conference25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew York
Period8/26/168/31/16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Social Psychology
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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