Exploring child-robot engagement in a collaborative task

Manja Lohse Human Media Interaction University of Twente Enschede, The Netherlands [email protected] Vanessa Evers Human Media Interaction University of Twente Enschede, The Netherlands [email protected] Abstract Imagine a room with toys scattered on the floor and a robot that is motivating a small group of children to tidy up. This scenario poses real-world challenges for the robot, e.g., the robot needs to navigate autonomously in a cluttered environment, it needs to classify and grasp objects, and it needs to interact with the children and adapt its behaviors to the children’s group dynamics. Within the EU FP7 project SQUIRREL, we aim to address these challenges and develop a robot for children (4-10 years old) that cannot only perform complex navigation and manipulation tasks in a cluttered environment, but is also affectively and socially intelligent, engaging and fun in a collaborative task. We currently focus on designing appropriate robot interaction styles for a small group of children and evaluating the levels of fun and engagement in child-robot and child-child interactions.