Aesthetics of Robot-Mediated Applied Drama: A Case Study on REMind
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the limited expressiveness of social robots in supporting children’s social-emotional learning by proposing a novel paradigm termed Robot-Mediated Applied Drama (RMAD). Integrating applied drama, human–robot interaction, and educational psychology, the authors designed REMind—a role-playing intervention focused on anti-bullying scenarios. In this system, a robot functions as a lifelike puppet to guide children through rehearsing bystander intervention and peer support behaviors. Crucially, dramatic aesthetics emerge from the co-designed holistic experience rather than relying solely on the robot’s individual expressivity. Empirical findings demonstrate that this approach successfully fosters an interactive narrative experience rich in both emotional resonance and aesthetic value, significantly enhancing children’s empathy and willingness to intervene in bullying situations.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Social robots are increasingly used in education, but most applications cast them as tutors offering explanation-based instruction. We explore an alternative: Robot-Mediated Applied Drama (RMAD), in which robots function as life-like puppets in interactive dramatic experiences designed to support reflection and social-emotional learning. This paper presents REMind, an anti-bullying robot role-play game that helps children rehearse bystander intervention and peer support. We focus on a central design challenge in RMAD: how to make robot drama emotionally and aesthetically engaging despite the limited expressive capacities of current robotic platforms. Through the development of REMind, we show how performing arts expertise informed this process, and argue that the aesthetics of robot drama arise from the coordinated design of the wider experience, not from robot expressivity alone.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Robot-Mediated Applied Drama
aesthetics
social robots
emotional engagement
expressive capacities
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Robot-Mediated Applied Drama
social-emotional learning
aesthetic design
interactive drama
bystander intervention
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