we describe the process and initial
outcomes of a design exploration focused
on creating an embodied conversational
assistant
specifically for a learning space this
project was created by an
interdisciplinary team of faculty
members
an intern and a former student learning
spaces are designed to support and
enable learning processes
what interactive elements can be added
to a space to support these goals
our learning center the kadar design and
technology center is focused on
interaction design and hands-on
prototyping
bringing together students from design
engineering and art
it is a test bed for exploring these
questions
we start with a bit of background
conversational assistance and social
robots are increasingly being used in
the context of education
they are assuming different roles in
learning interactions
well often the agent is set up as a
tutor or teacher some systems have given
the agent
the role of a peer or novice robots have
a history of task and location
specificity
for example industrial robots are
designed for painting cars
service robots for dispensing items to
hotel guests
and social robots for keeping company
for elderly people in assisted living
conversational assistants on the other
hand tend to be generic
accessible in different locations and
even through different devices
in the middle between robots and cas is
in an area of
physically embodied agents with whom the
interaction is based predominantly on
conversation
creating such an entity requires
presenting character in a coherent way
through form and behavior
we were interested in exploring this
area for our learning space
to begin the process we engaged in
discussions with our stakeholders
faculty collaborators interns and most
importantly students
to understand their experience of the
center our main insights were
it is challenging for newer students to
know where what equipment they need and
where to
find it much of the center's knowledge
such as past
projects is concentrated in the staff
some students hesitate to ask questions
for fear of appearing unknowledgeable
and recurring basic technical still
skills like soldering can be practiced
with simple guidance
from these insights came the vision of a
social conversational entity that would
reside in the center of space and would
augment the existing staff
with specific abilities our
conversational assistant would be
knowledgeable it should be familiar with
every project
and should know where every piece of
equipment is stored
spatially persistent it has to be
accessed in different locations around
the space to help with different tasks
vulnerable while knowledgeable it needs
to be vulnerable so that students feel
comfortable with it
vulnerability has been shown to increase
engagement and trust in human robot
teams
and respectful of privacy some students
would feel comfortable with the
conversational agent only if they can
interact with it without feeling
documented
at this point we felt the name the need
to name our assistant
searching for a name that was neither a
male nor female we took the first letter
of our center
name and named our assistant with it k
we synthesize our discussions with
stakeholders into storyboards and video
scenarios exploring different aspects of
k's role and behavior
scenarios dealt with welcoming new
students guiding students to equipment
and chaperoning and introductory
soldering session
two of the storyboard scenarios are
presented in one
kay welcomes a guest and shows shows
videos of projects using a nearby screen
in this next one k introduces a
soldering table using an overhead
projector
given k's attributes we knew it had to
be physically embodied and not in a
generic form
defining a new form would allow us to
make a truly specific to the space
as well as enabling new hardware for
specific function
functionality it would provide an
opportunity to give k
character through its form and the links
between form and behavior
we needed to decide whether there would
be a single unitary k
or more than one studies have shown that
in situations that require expertise
agents that move between different
bodies raise concerns for users
we therefore prioritize an individual
and unitary k
over the potential utility of having
several ones
our single instance of k would need to
move around the space
following our scenarios we decided that
the users of k would move it
between a set of docs that would be
located in strategic areas in the space
k would be k would ask to be moved to a
certain dock from which it would guide
and explain the specifics for that
location
we hypothesized that designing such
mutual dependence between the human
and conversational agent would
contribute to its vulnerability and to
mutual affinity
in this decision we were inspired by
hitchbot the hitchhiking robot
whose need for help garnered huge
sympathy from the involved public
the requirements for k were emerging
from the scenarios and discussions
k would be based on conversation only
without a camera
communicate attention and engagement to
encourage interaction
be able to point so it could help in
locating things in the space
be easily carried but substantial in its
presence and be able to dock in
distributed locations
around the space in this phase our goal
was to represent in shape color material
movement
this new entity we began with
brainstorming sessions about different
characters from
movies and stories we listed their main
characteristics
and selected the most important ones for
k it would be smart
helpful and dependable but also
sometimes needy
since case functionality does nothing
dictate
a specific form we needed design
metaphors
we chose the owl that we imagined
sitting on the branch and sharing its
knowledge
we also refer to k's technical origins
it belongs
to an ancestry of social robots
our initial sketches represent these
qualities a general configuration
a way to communicate the conversational
nature of k and physical handles for
look for its locomotion we designed the
speaker as a
as a rotate rotating head
this movement will enable k to express
emotion
communicate attention as well as orient
orient
towards a certain location the current k
model
balances between awareness and robotness
it is
3d printed in-house to give it a local
origin case perch at doc mountain on the
wall is designed to fit the central
center's interior design
we defined the three goals for case
textiles
the textile most dominant role was to
cover the exposed area
where the head movement originates this
divided the body into exposed and hidden
parts and mark the bottom part as a
holding area
in addition a textile solution should
support sca's movement and also
emphasize them
lastly a textile component brings a
tactile quality to any product and
invites touch
therefore it is a good starting point
for emotional bonding
we started the process with a variety of
fashion drawings but realized that cut
and saw was not the right approach in
this case
since it is too meticulous at this scale
and it creates
a more feminine look which we wanted to
avoid
we then selected kneading as our
fabrication method
since it can offer a variety of
flexibilities in one garment
creating a more homogeneous look the
color and kneading patterns are intended
to emphasize case movement
for implementing the conversation we
created an alexa scale using voice flow
which is run on an amazon echo dot
device embedded inside k
the dot device is hacked for using an
external speaker and microphone
as well as being operated by a
chargeable battery
in order to run the videos in the
welcome scenario
the dot sends an api request to a
computer connected to a screen
a servo motor's pen and tilt mechanism
is responsible for head movements of k
this mechanism is run by an adafruit
esp32 board
also failed by api commands sent from
the dots
the first implementation of case focused
on our welcoming scenario
a student arriving at the center for the
first time the scenario includes a short
conversation in which kay introduces
itself and asks the student for their
first
name and study program it then proposes
to watch a short movie together
selecting a project relevant to that
program if the user agrees
k asks to be moved to the screen perch
when placed there
k describes the project and then the
movie begins on the screen
eight students experienced the welcome
scenario individually at their first
visit to the center
they were then interviewed and filled
out a questionnaire
the general experience with k was of
surprise and enjoyment students
appreciated the potential of this new
form of assistance and were enthusiastic
about additional possibilities that they
suggested
the text-to-speech engine did not work
well enough with some students
non-native english names and
accents while some were amused a few
felt uncomfortable with this
to reflect envisioning k as an
idiosyncratic expert in our very
specific learning space has been a rich
ground for new interaction ideas
the spatial different distribution of
functions in our space led to the idea
of locomotion
the dependence on users for locomotion
led to the thought about vulnerability
having a single k inspired us to the
idea of
docs around the room and the docs
enabled us to add functionality to k
using existing devices we view this
process of creating and crafting k
for a specific space as a promising
process within interaction design that
we hope to see continued and advanced
we're especially curious to see what
conversational assistants will be born
in other interaction design labs
thank you very much