Page 31 - Socially Intelligent Agents Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots

14 Socially Intelligent Agents

of a general purpose planning layer. The system’s capabilities are illustrated
with interactions between two synthetic characters, Jack and Steve, who have
conflicting goals. Changing variables in the system leads to different types of
interactions, rude as opposed to cooperative interaction. While subtleties of so-
cial behavior cannot be modeled, experience in real-world military simulation
applications suggests that some social interactions can be modeled adequately.
Chapter 23 discusses the design of empathic ambience in the context of
computer-based learning environments for children. A key factor in human
social understanding and communication is empathy which helps people to
understand each other’s perspectives, and to develop their own perspectives.
Bridget Cooper and Paul Brna argue that the ambience in learning environ-
ments depends on the quality of communication and interaction. This am-
bience can be supported by empathic design which takes into account inter-
actions, emotions, communication and social relationships. A ‘pedagogical
claims analysis’ (a participatory design) methodology is used in the evaluation
of the design process, involving both teachers and pupils. The chapter dis-
cusses the design and support of empathy and reports on work that studies the
role of empathy in teacher/pupil relationships. Results in classrooms suggest
that the approach taken created a positive model of how teachers and children
can work together with computers in the classroom setting.
In chapter 24 Isabel Machado and Ana Paiva describe some design deci-
sions taken in the construction of a virtual story-creation environment called
Teatrix. In Teatrix children can collaboratively create and reflect upon virtual
stories. Story-telling is not only an enjoyable activity for children (and adults)
but also an important element in a child’s cognitive and social development.
Each character in the virtual game has a certain role and a certain function in
the story. Children can control the characters which can also act autonomously.
Children can communicate through their characters by letting them interact or
‘talk’ to each other. Tests with children showed the need for a higher level of
understanding of the characters’ behavior. This led to the development of a
meta-level control tool called ‘hot seating’. Here, children take the character’s
viewpoint and have to justify its behavior which can give children a chance to
reflect on and better understand the character’s actions.
Chapter 25 describes work done by an intergenerational design team where
children are design partners in the construction of new story-telling technol-
ogy for children. Such technology includes the emotional robotic storyteller
PETS and the construction kit Storykit that allows children to build interac-
tive physical story environments. Jaime Montemayor, Allison Druin and Jim
Hendler use the design methodology of ‘cooperative inquiry’ where children
are included as design partners. PETS is a robotic story-telling system that
elementary school age children can use to build their own robotic animal pet
by connecting body parts. A particular software (My PETS) can be used to