The BookBot Project: Conceptual Design of a Social Robot Facilitating Reading Motivation
摘要
The motivation to read among children in Nordic countries has seen a noticeable decline in recent years. This study explores the design of social robots for stimulating interest in reading among fourth-grade students (age 10–11). We used a combination of conceptual design methods to engage teachers and students from four classes in two Swedish schools in co-creation workshops. Ideas on functions, qualities, and robot designs were generated, and based on this a set of ten distinct design concepts were created: the Facilitator, the Librarian, the Coach, the Buddy, the Assistant, the Narrator, the Creator, the Apprentice, the Portable, and the Gamer. The strengths and weaknesses of different designs were evaluated, resulting in a final design named ‘The BookBot,’ aiming to inspire and engage students in book reading through discussions of book content, character portrayal, and personalised book recommendations.