What Makes an Educational Robot Game Fun? Framework Analysis of Children's Design Ideas

TL;DR

This paper explores how social robots can be designed to make educational games fun for children, using a framework analysis of children's ideas to identify key fun elements for robot-mediated learning experiences.

Contribution

It introduces a framework based on children's perceptions to guide the design of engaging educational robot games, specifically for promoting anti-bullying behaviors.

Findings

Identified 28 elements of fun for robot-mediated games.

Developed design recommendations for fun in educational social robots.

Enhanced understanding of children's perceptions of fun in robot games.

Abstract

Fun acts as a catalyst for learning by enhancing motivation, active engagement and knowledge retention. As social robots gain traction as educational tools, understanding how their unique affordances can be leveraged to cultivate fun becomes crucial. This research investigates the concept of fun in educational games involving social robots to support the design of REMind:a robot-mediated role-play game aimed at encouraging bystander intervention against peer bullying among children. To incorporate fun elements into design of REMind, we conducted a user-centered Research through Design (RtD) study with focus groups of children to gain a deeper understanding of their perceptions of fun. We analyzed children's ideas by using Framework Analysis and leveraging LeBlanc's Taxonomy of Game Pleasures and identified 28 elements of fun that can be incorporated into robot-mediated games. We present our observations, discuss their impact on REMind's design, and offer recommendations for designing fun educational games using social robots.