Two artificial agents U+0028 a humanoid robot and a virtual human U+0029 are enriched with various similar intelligence, autonomy, functionalities and interaction modalities. The agents are integrated in the form of a cyber-physical-social system U+0028 CPSS U+0029 through a shared communication platform to create a social ecology. In the ecology, the agents collaborate U+0028 assist each other U+0029 to perform a real-world task U+0028 search for a hidden object U+0028 for the benefits of humans. A robot-virtual human bilateral trust model is derived and a real-time trust measurement method is developed. The role of taking initiative in the collaboration is switched between the agents following a finite state machine model triggered by bilateral trust, which results in a mixedinitiative collaboration. A scheme is developed to evaluate the performance of the agents in the ecology through the CPSS. The results show that the robot and the virtual human perform satisfactorily in the collaboration through the CPSS. The results thus prove the effectiveness of the real-world ecology between artificial agents of heterogeneous realities through a shared platform based on trust-triggered mixed-initiatives. The results can help develop adaptive social ecology comprising intelligent agents of heterogeneous realities to assist humans in various tasks through collaboration between the agents in the form of a CPSS.

Cyber-physical-social system between a humanoid robot and a virtual human through a shared platform for adaptive agent ecology

In the years to come social robots will be extensively used in the teaching field. Consequently, it is important to determine how these robots can optimally interact with students. This paper specifically looks at the performance of social robots in place of university professors, in the field of engineering, measuring three outcomes, enjoyment (questionnaire), the acquisition of knowledge (academic test after class and final exam grades) and level of surprise (facial expressions monitored by cameras). Inspired by previous cognitive studies which have evidenced that feelings of surprise and familiarity affect the learning process, the hypothesis of this research is that robot-tutors will increase student's enjoyment. Leading the research to question whether higher levels of enjoyment strongly correlate with a higher acquisition of knowledge through a series of three experiments. Using the same subject material, three variables were tested: 1. one robot-tutor lecture, 2. one human-tutor lecture, 3. two robot-tutor lectures. Initial findings showed that students lectured by a human-tutor once, acquired a higher level of knowledge compared to those lectured by a robot-tutor once. However, those in the robot-tutor lecture shared higher levels of enjoyment as well as increased expressions of surprise. When students were lectured by a robot-tutor for the second time, results showed both a higher level of acquired knowledge and enjoyment and a drop in expressed surprise, compared to both, one human-tutor lecture and one robot-tutor lecture or one robot-tutor lecture. We conclude that high levels of surprise distracted students initially but once overcome, acted as motivation to study.

Learn with surprize from a robot professor

The purpose of this paper is to address the role of social robots in the education industry, specifically within special developmental schools, as a part of an innovation technology portfolio. It identifies critical success factors (CSFs) arising from the development, adoption and implementation of social robots to educate students with special needs and assist their teachers.,The study engaged in longitudinal research over 12 months, tracking the role of the Matilda robot in providing educational services to students with special needs.,The results propose a three-faceted framework for social robot application in special education: development, adoption and implementation.,The study has shown the willingness of students and teachers to embrace social robot technology, and the CSF that arise from this adoption. It has also found that social robots achieve the greatest success within the development, adoption and implementation framework when championed by executive management, and peer teacher support.

Critical Success Factors for Application of Social Robots in Special Developmental Schools: Development, Adoption and Implementation.

Physical computing including robots is a proven concept to attract students to Computer Science and for increasing their motivation to learn programming, which is a critical issue especially for freshmen, who study interdisciplinary degrees featuring Computer Science as a minor [51]. To examine the intended motivational effect, this article compares the Lego Mindstorms robot and the humanoid Nao robot with regard to their potential of creating intrinsic motivation from the viewpoint of Computer Science non-major freshmen. A controlled experiment with 172 participants was conducted. The data was collected with the help of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Nao robot was found to be significantly more effective in creating intrinsic motivation across both genders and fields of study. Generalization of results is limited due to the fact that only undergraduate students participated in the study and because of the unequal distribution of characteristics. The results reinforced existing positive experiences with the Nao robot and confirmed previous studies on the competence issue of female Computer Science students.

Nao Robot vs. Lego Mindstorms: The Influence on the Intrinsic Motivation of Computer Science Non-Majors

For the widely used humanoid robot Nao, how to apply to the international humanoid robot Olympic competition, and in order to improve the sprint speed of the robot Nao, this paper uses the image processing algorithm to optimize the visual images collected by Nao. The image is filtered and the edge extraction algorithm is used to process the white run line image. Then, the walking control strategy is proposed to calculate the slope of the track centerline and control the motion state of the robot according to the slope value. The experimental results show that the proposed method is feasible and effective in different external environments. In the course of the competition, the interference of the site factors to the Nao path planning is reduced, which improves the speed of the robot and satisfies the robustness of the recognition algorithm in the game.

Implementation of Robot NAO on Sprint

Most kindergarten students spend the majority of their day in schools, so it is important to provide them with the tools and techniques that help them develop intellectually and educationally. In this poster we propose a system that facilitates kindergarten educational process by utilizing a Humanoid robot called NAO. NAO robot will be programmed to support fun learning through providing many activities and games. The robot system will provide quizzes to test the student's understanding. It will also enable the teacher to continuously review the student's progress through an application interface installed on his/her computer.

Using NAO Humanoid Robot in Kindergarten: A Proposed System

This paper provides our experience in building a system called Mr. Saud that facilitates the educational process using NAO humanoid robot. NAO robot was programmed to support fun leaning by providing an interface with many activities and games. The system provides quizzes to test the student's understanding. All interactions between NAO and the students will be through voice and touch. Moreover, the system enables the teacher to continuously review the student's progress and understanding via a web interface. In addition, an Android application that controls NAO robot's movements, speech and expressions was developed to enable the teacher to remotely control NAO.

Bashayer Alsalman

Papers

Using NAO Humanoid Robot in Kindergarten: A Proposed System

The experience of developing Mr. saud educational system using NAO humanoid robot