Telepresence robot helps children in communicating with teachers who speak a different language

Abstract

This study reports the advantages of using a child-operated telepresence robot system for the purpose of remote education. Video conferencing is already common in educational settings, where a foreign language is taught by a native teacher from a remote location; however, there is a serious issue in that children tend to have difficulties or freeze when facing teachers who speak a different language over a monitor. We hypothesize that a child-operated telepresence robot that offers physical participation and operability will help to address this issue. To investigate this hypothesis, we conduct a field experiment with 52 participants (4-8 years old) in classroom environments, and the use of a telepresence robot system is compared with a baseline Skype condition. The results show the advantages of the telepresence robot system for both children and teachers.