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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2024.1469626

Android avatar improves educational effects by embodied anthropomorphization

Provisionally accepted
Naoki Kodani Naoki Kodani 1*Takahisa Uchida Takahisa Uchida 1Nahoko Kameo Nahoko Kameo 2Kurima Sakai Kurima Sakai 3Tomo Funayama Tomo Funayama 3Takashi Minato Takashi Minato 4Akane Kikuchi Akane Kikuchi 5Hiroshi Ishiguro Hiroshi Ishiguro 1
  • 1 Osaka University, Suita, Japan
  • 2 New York University, New York City, New York, United States
  • 3 Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International, Kyoto, Japan
  • 4 RIKEN, Kyoto, Japan
  • 5 KiQ Inc., Tokyo, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    After the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of distance learning has been accelerated in educational institutions in multiple countries. In addition to using a videoconferencing system with camera images, avatars can also be used for remote classes. In particular, an android avatar with a sense of presence has the potential to provide higher quality education than a video-recorded lecture. To investigate the specific educational effects of android avatars, we used a Geminoid. an android with the appearance of a specific individual, and conducted both laboratory experiment and large-scale field experiment. The first compared the android avatar lecture with a videoconferencing system. We found that the use of an android avatar for the lecture led to the significantly higher subjective feelings of being seen, feeling more motivated, and focused on the lecture compared to the video lecture. We further conducted a large-scale field experiment with an android avatar to clarify what contributes to such educational effects. The results suggest that the students' perception of android's anthroppomorphism and competence has a positive impact, and discomfort has a negative impact on the subjective experence of educational effect. These results indicate the role of embodied anthropomorphization in positive educational experience. The important point of this study is that both the laboratory experiment and the large-scale experiment were conducted to clarify the educational effects of androids. These results support several related studies and are clarified in detail. Based on these results, the potential for the future usage of androids in education is discussed.

    Keywords: distance learning, Android, Avatar, Lecture, Education

    Received: 24 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kodani, Uchida, Kameo, Sakai, Funayama, Minato, Kikuchi and Ishiguro. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Naoki Kodani, Osaka University, Suita, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.