Investigating the Effect of a Conversational Robot based on the Problem-Number Negotiation Method on the Impressions of High School Students

Abstract

In recent years, educational-support robots that learn together with learners while solving problems have attracted much attention. Our previous study proposed the Problem-Number Negotiation Method, which determines the number of problems a learner tackles through conversational interaction. This approach is based on politeness theory and uses a friendly tone (PPS) or a polite tone (NPS) in the robot's dialogue. Experimental results suggested that this method improves the number of problems solved by junior high school students compared to non-conversational robots. Also, no significant difference was found between PPS and NPS in terms of the robot's impression. However, the impression of tone based on politeness theory differs according to age, and the impression effect of PPS and NPS in this method does not necessarily have the same effect on high school students. Therefore, in this paper, we investigated the impression of robots using PPS and NPS on high school students. The experimental results show that robots using PPS create a more favorable impression on high school students than those using NPS. This suggests that tone adjustment based on politeness theory should consider the learner's age for optimal engagement.