RoboBuddy in the Classroom: Exploring LLM-Powered Social Robots for Storytelling in Learning and Integration Activities

TL;DR

This study introduces an intuitive system combining LLMs and social robots to facilitate scenario-based storytelling activities in classrooms, aiming to enhance engagement and multicultural integration.

Contribution

It presents a co-designed framework enabling teachers to easily create story-based activities using LLMs and robots, validated through a real-world classroom deployment.

Findings

Students' enjoyment increased with storytelling activities.

Perceived positive impact of integration policies on children.

System demonstrated efficacy in classroom settings.

Abstract

Creating and improvising scenarios for content approaching is an enriching technique in education. However, it comes with a significant increase in the time spent on its planning, which intensifies when using complex technologies, such as social robots. Furthermore, addressing multicultural integration is commonly embedded in regular activities due to the already tight curriculum. Addressing these issues with a single solution, we implemented an intuitive interface that allows teachers to create scenario-based activities from their regular curriculum using LLMs and social robots. We co-designed different frameworks of activities with 4 teachers and deployed it in a study with 27 students for 1 week. Beyond validating the system's efficacy, our findings highlight the positive impact of integration policies perceived by the children and demonstrate the importance of scenario-based activities in students' enjoyment, observed to be significantly higher when applying storytelling. Additionally, several implications of using LLMs and social robots in long-term classroom activities are discussed.