Dancing with a Robot: An Experimental Study of Child-Robot Interaction in a Performative Art Setting

TL;DR

This study evaluates children's interactions with an autonomous robot dancer in an art installation, highlighting engagement challenges and emphasizing the importance of optimizing human-robot interaction for meaningful performative experiences.

Contribution

It provides an in-depth observational analysis of child-robot interactions in a performative art setting and identifies key challenges to enhance future HRI designs.

Findings

Children are naturally curious and engage with robotic performers.

Key challenges include maintaining engagement and robot expressivity.

Optimizing HRI systems is crucial for meaningful artistic interactions.

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation of 18 children's in-the-wild experiences with the autonomous robot arm performer NED (Never-Ending Dancer) within the Thingamabobas installation, showcased across the UK. We detail NED's design, including costume, behaviour, and human interactions, all integral to the installation. Our observational analysis revealed three key challenges in child-robot interactions: 1) Initiating and maintaining engagement, 2) Lack of robot expressivity and reciprocity, and 3) Unmet expectations. Our findings show that children are naturally curious, and adept at interacting with a robotic art performer. However, our observations emphasise the critical need to optimise human-robot interaction (HRI) systems through careful consideration of audience's capabilities, perceptions, and expectations, within the performative arts context, to enable engaging and meaningful experiences, especially for young audiences.