arXiv subjects

Isabel Neto

Publications and source records attributed to Isabel Neto.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Calling for Backup: How Children Navigate Successive Robot Communication Failures

How do children respond to repeated robot errors? While prior research has examined adult reactions to successive robot errors, children's responses remain largely unexplored. In this study, we explore children's reactions to robot social errors and performance errors. For the latter, this study reproduces the successive robot failure paradigm of Liu et al. with child participants (N=59, ages 8-10) to examine how young users respond to repeated robot conversational errors. Participants interacted with a robot that failed to understand their prompts three times in succession, with their behavioral responses video-recorded and analyzed. We found both similarities and differences compared to adult responses from the original study. Like adults, children adjusted their prompts, modified their verbal tone, and exhibited increasingly emotional non-verbal responses throughout successive errors. However, children demonstrated more disengagement behaviors, including temporarily ignoring the robot or actively seeking an adult. Errors did not affect participants' perception of the robot, suggesting more flexible conversational expectations in children. These findings inform the design of more effective and developmentally appropriate human-robot interaction systems for young users.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2025

Cooperation Through Indirect Reciprocity in Child-Robot Interactions

Social interactions increasingly involve artificial agents, such as conversational or collaborative bots. Understanding trust and prosociality in these settings is fundamental to improve human-AI teamwork. Research in biology and social sciences has identified mechanisms to sustain cooperation among humans. Indirect reciprocity (IR) is one of them. With IR, helping someone can enhance an individual's reputation, nudging others to reciprocate in the future. Transposing IR to human-AI interactions is however challenging, as differences in human demographics, moral judgements, and agents' learning dynamics can affect how interactions are assessed. To study IR in human-AI groups, we combine laboratory experiments and theoretical modelling. We investigate whether 1) indirect reciprocity can be transposed to children-robot interactions; 2) artificial agents can learn to cooperate given children's strategies; and 3) how differences in learning algorithms impact human-AI cooperation. We find that IR extends to children and robots solving coordination dilemmas. Furthermore, we observe that the strategies revealed by children provide a sufficient signal for multi-armed bandit algorithms to learn cooperative actions. Beyond the experimental scenarios, we observe that cooperating through multi-armed bandit algorithms is highly dependent on the strategies revealed by humans.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

PartiPlay: A Participatory Game Design Kit for Neurodiverse Classrooms

Play is a central aspect of childhood development, with games as a vital tool to promote it. However, neurodivergent children, especially those in neurodiverse environments, are underserved by HCI games research. Most existing work takes on a top-down approach, disregarding neurodivergent interest for the majority of the design process. Co-design is often proposed as a tool to create truly accessible and inclusive gaming experiences. Nevertheless, co-designing with neurodivergent children within neurodiverse groups brings about unique challenges, such as different communication styles, sensory needs and preferences. Building upon recommendations from prior work in neurodivergent, mixed-ability, and child-led co-design, we propose a concrete participatory game design kit for neurodiverse classrooms: PartiPlay. Moreover, we present preliminary findings from an in-the-wild experiment with the said kit, showcasing its ability to create an inclusive co-design process for neurodiverse groups of children. We aim to provide actionable steps for future participatory design research with neurodiverse children.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Ethical Concerns when Working with Mixed-Ability Groups of Children

Accessibility research has gained traction, yet ethical gaps persist in the inclusion of individuals with disabilities, especially children. Inclusive research practices are essential to ensure research and design solutions cater to the needs of all individuals, regardless of their abilities. Working with children with disabilities in Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction presents a unique set of ethical dilemmas. These young participants often require additional care, support, and accommodations, which can fall off researchers' resources or expertise. The lack of clear guidance on navigating these challenges further aggravates the problem. To provide a base and address this issue, we adopt a critical reflective approach, evaluating our impact by analyzing two case studies involving children with disabilities in HCI/HRI research.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

"That's our game!" : Reflections on co-designing a robotic game with neurodiverse children

Many neurodivergent (ND) children are integrated into mainstream schools alongside their neurotypical (NT) peers. However, they often face social exclusion, which may have lifelong effects. Inclusive play activities can be a strong driver of inclusion. Unfortunately, games designed for the specific needs of neurodiverse groups, those that include neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals, are scarce. Given the potential of robots as engaging devices, we led a 6-month co-design process to build an inclusive and entertaining robotic game for neurodiverse classrooms. We first interviewed neurodivergent adults and educators to identify the barriers and facilitators for including neurodivergent children in mainstream classrooms. Then, we conducted five co-design sessions, engaging four neurodiverse classrooms with 81 children (19 neurodivergent). We present a reflection on our co-design process and the resulting robotic game through the lens of Self-Determination Theory, discussing how our methodology supported the intrinsic motivations of neurodivergent children.

cs.HC↗