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

该项目利用社交机器人领域的新兴技术，结合社会、发展和认知心理学的最新研究成果，设计、实施和评估新一代机器人，这些机器人能够以真正的社交方式与3至6岁的青少年学习者进行互动和指导。机器人结合了大脑隐含地用来确定另一个人的意图、动机和从属关系的信号（例如，运动模仿和同步、情感线索、注视方向），使其能够充当人类指导者的真正体现。机器人平台可以通过直接和近距离连接或远程基于互联网的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，从儿童的家到医疗区域，在这些区域中，移动性或免疫抑制问题使得难以与指导者直接交互。研究的目的是更好地理解儿童的机器人思维和机器人作为代理的概念，揭示学习新单词背后的心理运作，并增加已知的非语言话语对理解，沟通和协作的附加值（如果有的话）。新兴的研究已经确定了早期语言和词汇技能的获得是后期学术成功的主要预测因素。进入幼儿园后词汇量不足强烈预示着随后的学习成绩不佳。因此，在学龄前使用旨在建立词汇的技术是促进多种学习的关键。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，这些儿童有机会与愿意并能够促进其重要的社会智力发展需求的细心、有教养的照顾者定期互动。此外，为该项目创建的理论基础、人工制品、网络平台和基础设施可以用于广泛的设计扩展，例如为学习英语作为第二语言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推广，支持聋哑父母的儿童，评估/协助有语用语言障碍的儿童。

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.