A Study on the Appearances and Functionalities of Education Robots for Attracting Students' Attention and Interactive Interests

Abstract

This research aims to study the appearance factors and functionalities of an education robot which may attract students' attention and their willingness to interact with the robot. With the rapid development of science and technology, the application of multimedia technology in education is becoming popular and vita. Thus, researchers believe education robots will improve learning experiences and enhance the learning efficiency of children. Besides, studies found that good-look anthropomorphic robots would enhance the acceptance of students as well. This research studies four different groups of students, i.e. junior-grade, middle-grade, senior-grade, and undergraduate, on their responses and interactions with an education robot. The research results show that junior-grade students prefer a toy-like robot with cute-design; middle-grade students care about the appearance of anthropomorphic robots; senior-grade students will keep interest in a robot if its responses are non-repeating; and undergraduate students will care about the functionalities of an education robot. Moreover, research also found that there is a relationship between the age of students and interactive behaviours as well.