Empathic Robot for Group Learning: A Field Study
This work addresses the problem of enhancing group learning outcomes in education using empathic robots, though it is incremental with mixed results.
The study investigated whether an autonomous empathic robot could foster collaborative learning in group settings, finding that it promoted meaningful sustainability discussions in short-term interactions but did not yield significant learning gains in a two-month long-term trial.
This work explores a group learning scenario with an autonomous empathic robot. We address two research questions: (1) Can an autonomous robot designed with empathic competencies foster collaborative learning in a group context? (2) Can an empathic robot sustain positive educational outcomes in long-term collaborative learning interactions with groups of students? To answer these questions, we developed an autonomous robot with empathic competencies that is able to interact with a group of students in a learning activity about sustainable development. Two studies were conducted. The first study compares learning outcomes in children across 3 conditions: learning with an empathic robot; learning with a robot without empathic capabilities; and learning without a robot. The results show that the autonomous robot with empathy fosters meaningful discussions about sustainability, which is a learning outcome in sustainability education. The second study features groups of students who interact with the robot in a school classroom for two months. The long-term educational interaction did not seem to provide significant learning gains, although there was a change in game-actions to achieve more sustainability during game-play. This result reflects the need to perform more long-term research in the field of educational robots for group learning.