Young children's attention to a robot increased sharply when the robot reacted to their gaze¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Children engaged with the robot Rubi for about 20 minutes initially, but when it was programmed to react to their gaze and look at them, their attention span increased dramatically. → Michael J Timms 2016

Evidence¶

Michael J Timms 2016¶

Michael J Timms. (2016). Letting Artificial Intelligence in Education Out of the Box: Educational Cobots and Smart Classrooms. Int J Artif Intell Educ 26:701–712. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-016-0095-y

q2 · i? · theoretical · r3

The paper reports, citing work at the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center funded by the US NSF, an observational finding with the robot Rubi. Gaze-reactive programming 'skyrocketed' children's attention span relative to the initial roughly 20-minute engagement; no effect size is printed.

"young children engaged with a robot called Rubi initially for about 20 min before their attention went elsewhere. However, when the robot was programmed to react to their gaze and look at them, the attention span skyrocketed."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Analyzing fluctuation of engagement over time rather than averaging on-task and off-task instances across a lecture provides novel insights into student behavior — related
• Affective support in AutoTutor benefits low-knowledge learners but not high-knowledge learners, and gaze-based disengagement reactivity yields significant gains only on deep learning — related
• The commentary pattern can cause tool-tutor desynchronization when students act faster than the tutor reacts — related
• Children's vocabulary acquisition benefited from the robot tutor's instruction and knowledge demonstration — related