AI Meets Austen: Towards Human-Robot Discussions of Literary Metaphor
This provides a proof-of-concept for using companion robots to encourage cognitive exercise and lifelong learning in informal education, though it is incremental as it builds on existing AI and robotics for educational applications.
The paper tackled the problem of promoting lifelong learning in informal settings by developing an embodied book discussion companion robot that stimulates conversations about literary metaphors in fiction, and found that 26 participants rated their interactions with the robot highly when discussing Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'.
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing formal education, fueled by innovations in learning assessment, content generation, and instructional delivery. Informal, lifelong learning settings have been the subject of less attention. We provide a proof-of-concept for an embodied book discussion companion, designed to stimulate conversations with readers about particularly creative metaphors in fiction literature. We collect ratings from 26 participants, each of whom discuss Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" with the robot across one or more sessions, and find that participants rate their interactions highly. This suggests that companion robots could be an interesting entryway for the promotion of lifelong learning and cognitive exercise in future applications.