The AI+Robot condition is associated with lower perceived workload than AI-Only on effort, frustration, temporal demand, physical demand, and Raw TLX¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i2–i3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Effort scores were lower in AI+Robot (M = 4.92) than AI-Only (M = 7.50), dz = 0.72. → Leyi Li 2026 q3 i3 Frustration was markedly lower in AI+Robot (Mdn = 2, IQR = 1–3) than AI-Only (Mdn = 12, IQR = 10–14), Wilcoxon r ≈ .87. → Leyi Li 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Leyi Li 2026¶

Leyi Li, Chenyu Du, Jiafei Sun, Erick Purwanto, and Qing Zhang. (2026). RoboBlockly Studio: Conversational Block Programming with Embodied Robot Feedback for Computational Thinking. Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '26). https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3813071

q3 · i2 · causal · r2

NASA-TLX Effort subscale in the within-subject study (N=32), paired t-test on approximately normal differences: AI-Only M = 7.50 versus AI+Robot M = 4.92, t(31)=4.10, p<.001, with printed effect size dz = 0.72, a medium effect favoring the AI+Robot condition.

"Effort scores were lower in AI+Robot (𝑀= 4.92) compared to the AI–Only ( 𝑀= 7.50), indicating that AI support reduced the exertion required to make progress on the tasks."

Leyi Li 2026 (2)¶

Leyi Li, Chenyu Du, Jiafei Sun, Erick Purwanto, and Qing Zhang. (2026). RoboBlockly Studio: Conversational Block Programming with Embodied Robot Feedback for Computational Thinking. Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '26). https://doi.org/10.1145/3800645.3813071

q3 · i3 · causal · r2

Frustration violated normality, so medians and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test were reported: "Frustration was markedly lower in the AI+Robot condition" (Mdn = 2 vs 12), V ≈ 528, Z ≈ 4.94, p < .001, r ≈ .87, a large effect.

"Frustration was markedly lower in the AI+Robot condition (𝑀𝑑𝑛= 2,𝐼𝑄𝑅= 1–3) than in the AI–Only condition (𝑀𝑑𝑛= 12,𝐼𝑄𝑅= 10–14). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test confirmed that this difference was significant (𝑉≈ 528,𝑍≈ 4.94,𝑝<. 001,𝑟≈. 87)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• AI assistance reduces subjective mental effort across all tasks even when it does not reduce completion time, dissociating time and effort — a broader claim this one bears on
• Using the AIED-U system yielded a positive indirect effect on learning gains through a reduction in the effort teachers reported — related
• 30 of 32 participants preferred the AI+Robot condition, describing the robot as making success and failure visible, though a minority found AI-Only useful for focusing on block construction — related
• Students' actual task selections deviate about half a difficulty level and half a support level from SRLTS model-based selections — related
• Teacher perceived workload did not differ significantly across conditions on any NASA-TLX subscale, though the experimental condition was descriptively lower on most subscales — reports the opposite
• Teacher perceived workload was negatively associated with student learning gains, especially for Mental Demand and Effort — related