DIP: Collaborative Research: Social Robots as Mechanisms for Language Instruction, Interaction, and Evaluation in Pre-School Children

该项目正在利用社交机器人领域的新兴技术，结合社交、发展和认知心理学的最新发现，设计、实施和评估能够以真正的社交方式与年轻学习者(3至6岁)互动和指导的新一代机器人。机器人整合了大脑隐含地用来确定他人意图、动机和从属关系的信号(例如，运动模仿和同步、情感暗示、凝视方向)，使其能够成为人类教练的真正体现。机器人平台可以通过直接和就近的连接或基于互联网的远程操作员界面进行远程控制。因此，该系统可以放置在几个不同的环境中，从儿童的家中到医疗区域，在这些区域，流动性或免疫抑制问题使其难以与教师直接互动。研究旨在更好地理解儿童对机器人思维和机器人作为代理人的概念，揭示学习新单词背后的心理操作，并增加已知的非语言话语对理解、交流和合作的附加值(如果有的话)。新出现的研究发现，早期语言和词汇技能的获得是未来学业成功的主要预测因素。进入幼儿园时词汇贫乏强烈地预示着随后的学习成绩不佳。因此，在学龄前阶段使用旨在积累词汇量的技术是促进许多类型学习的关键。与机器人语言伙伴的互动预计将对儿童产生特别重要的影响，这些儿童有机会定期与愿意并能够促进其重要社会智力发展需求的细心、有教养的照顾者互动。此外，为该项目创建的基本原理、人工制品和网络平台和基础设施可用于广泛的设计扩展，例如为将英语作为第二语言学习的儿童提供参与以英语为基础的社交活动的机会，向儿童很少参加社交活动的农村地区提供服务，支持聋人父母的儿童，以及评估/帮助有实用语言障碍的儿童。

This project is leveraging emerging technologies in social robotics with recent findings from social, developmental, and cognitive psychology to design, implement, and evaluate a new generation of robots that is capable of interacting with and instructing young learners (ages 3 through 6) in a truly social way. The robot incorporates signals that the mind implicitly uses to ascertain another's intentions, motivations, and affiliations (e.g., motor mimicry and synchrony, affective cues, gaze direction), making it capable of serving as a true embodiment of a human instructor. The robotic platform can be controlled remotely, through a direct and proximate connection or a remote, Internet-based operator interface. As such, the system can be placed in several different environments, ranging from a child's home to medical areas where issues of mobility or immunosuppression make it difficult for direct interaction with instructors. Research is aimed at better understanding children's concepts of robot mind and of robots as agents, uncovering mental operations behind learning new words, and adding to what is known about the added value (if any) of non-verbal utterances to understanding, communication, and collaboration.Emerging research has identified the acquisition of early language and vocabulary skills primary predictors of later academic success. Impoverished vocabulary upon entering kindergarten strongly predicts poor subsequent academic performance. Accordingly, the use of technologies designed to build vocabulary during the preschool years is key to facilitating many types of learning. Interactions with a robotic language partner are expected to have particularly important ramifications for children with compromised opportunities to interact regularly with attentive, nurturing caregivers willing and able to foster their vital socio-intellectual developmental needs. In addition, the rationales, artifacts, and cyber platforms and infrastructure created for this project could lend themselves to a broad range of design extensions, such as providing opportunities for children who are learning English as a second language to participate in English-language-based social activities, outreach to rural areas where children have infrequent access to social activities, supporting children of deaf parents, and assessing/assisting children with pragmatic language impairments.