[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
A child's world can be filled with storybooks,
stuffed animals, real animals, computers, and more.
This can be very different from the world of robotics,
where machines are not huggable and rarely used
to tell stories.
In recent years, researchers have
begun to bring together the worlds of robotics and children
by creating everything from computationally enriched LEGO
bricks to robotic storytellers.
At the University of Maryland, our robotic building blocks
have been soft and huggable.
They bring together the worlds of robotics, storytelling,
and animals.
A child can use them to build what
we have come to call PETS, a Personal Electronic
Teller of Stories.
Elementary school children can build their own robotic pet
by simply snapping together special modular animal parts.
They can mix dog paws or duck feet if they wish.
After a robotic pet is built, children
can tell stories with the My Pets software,
giving their robot emotions and behaviors to act out.
The name, the concept, and the development
of our Pets prototypes came about because of children.
We developed new technologies for children, with children,
in an intergenerational design team.
This team has been together for almost a year
and consists of six children ages 7 to 11 years old
and six adult professionals, with experience
in computer science, education, art, and robotics.
Together we use the methodology of cooperative inquiry
to understand what children want in new technologies today
and in the future.
We began our work in cooperative inquiry
by examining and exploring a robotics lab.
Children and adults tried out robots,
asked questions of researchers, and took notes
about the experience.
The sound wave would bounce off whatever's over here
and come back.
And it can tell, the computer can process and tell how far
and how long--
When we returned to our HCI lab, each child and adult researcher
wrote down on post-it notes what they liked and didn't
like about the robots they saw.
After our field research and analysis,
we began to create numerous low-tech prototypes,
using participatory design techniques.
We built animal robots that didn't move.
They were made out of LEGO bricks
with fur, feathers, clay, socks, and more.
They represented our first ideas.
At the beginning of August 1998, the team
met for two weeks eight hours a day.
During that time, we split into three groups.
Each group consisted of two adults and two children
and focused on one important part of the prototype design.
The skeleton group was responsible for creating
the robotic skeleton of LEGO bricks, gears, motors,
and servos.
This group developed the modular parts
that could be put together to create an animal.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Keeping in mind, easily removable
so that you can work on the skeleton [INAUDIBLE]..
Ooh!
What the skeleton group made, the skins and censors group
covered in fur, feathers, felt, and fabric.
The skins they created were either sewn, glued, tied,
or attached using Velcro to the LEGO bricks.
That's not good.
It supposed to be clear.
The third group focused on designing the software
that children could use to tell stories.
This group began by looking at what software had already
been made and decided what they liked and didn't like about it.
This group then brainstormed and discussed
what feelings they wanted to give the robot.
From this list of feelings, a chart
was made that showed all the actions
the robot would need to perform to show each feeling.
These actions were then tested by having one child play
the part of the robot.
If the audience could not guess the feeling from the action,
revisions were made.
Finally, the group sketched on paper different possibilities
for the screen.
This is the story.
You write your story to tell him to use the emotion you have
[INAUDIBLE].
At the end of this two-week intensive work session,
a working prototype was developed and presented
to a group of 40 local day camp children.
It's been almost a year since we began our research team.
During that time, we've learned a few things
not just about technology, but about the process
of how we make it.
As our work together has progressed,
three guiding principles have emerged as critical
to our design process.
They are simple but difficult to make happen.
New power structures between adults and children
must be developed.
The children in our team have had
to learn to challenge adults ideas,
questioning what is done, and making suggestions.
At the same time, we have had to support adults
in learning to hear what children
have to say as partners.
And that does not mean having an adult only sit and take notes
quietly about everything a child says or does.
Instead we believe in facilitating discussions,
where children and adults each feel
comfortable contributing ideas.
Finding ways to give each design partner a voice in the process
is no small challenge.
Sharing ideas needs to happen in numerous ways,
since people young and old feel comfortable communicating
in various forms.
We found that there are times when
drawing or writing or even building
can and should be used to capture ideas.
These artifacts become a catalyst or bridge
for discussion in large or small groups.
Not only should communication opportunities be diverse,
but the design environment needs to feel comfortable.
A common ground cannot truly be found without physical
surroundings that accommodate all design partners.
Design experiences take place in informal settings,
sitting on the floor or in a beanbag chair.
This all takes a commitment of time
and a willingness to change by all design partners.
There have been times of frustration,
differences among team members, questioning of goals.
It may be those times that have taught us the most.
There is still much more to do, many more prototypes to make,
a lot more questions to answer.
Therefore our intergenerational design team
continues today, designing new PETS for the future.
Oh, I know.
We [INAUDIBLE] the house.
Yeah, we did not do the house yet.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]