Social Robot Designs as a Response to Community Issues

This study explores adolescents' design of social robots as response to issues they see in their local communities.

This project was a collaboration between Denise Lengyel from Open Lab, Kirsikka Kaipainen from Tampere University in Finland and Altitude Foundation .

The study was conducted as part of the Altitude Foundation's "Code Project: Bots for Good" two-day workshop in Newcastle upon Tyne. 29 young people from Years 9, 10, and 11 across the North East of England worked in small teams to develop robots as a solution to a challenge they identified in their community.

They created drawings and written designs (on a robot design canvas), then sculpted their designs from silk clay, and finally created designs using/programming MicroBits and WonderBuildingKits. On the final day, they drew additional posters and flyers and presented their final designs to their families, friends, and researchers in an exhibition with over 65 visitors at Newcastle University.

This research shows which challenges stand out to young people in their communities. It also gives young people hands-on experiences with methods and tools used in academia, the tech world and other industry sectors, equipping them with knowledge and skills that develop their critical thinking and prepare them for their future work-life. Many of these young people come from a disadvantaged background, so this project provides them with a stepping stone into (academia and) the tech work; also see Altitude Foundation’s project description and reflection.

We are currently working on a journal article focused on the design responses of adolescents, including an evaluation of the structured interviews we did with the young people and the demographic and experience questionnaires they filled in for us. We are also considering another publication on the methodology used in this project.