AUTHOR=Björling Elin A. , Kim Ada , Oleson Katelynn , Alves-Oliveira Patrícia TITLE=I Am the Robot: Teen Collaboration in an Asymmetric, Virtual Reality Game JOURNAL=Frontiers in Virtual Reality VOLUME=2 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/virtual-reality/articles/10.3389/frvir.2021.746521 DOI=10.3389/frvir.2021.746521 ISSN=2673-4192 ABSTRACT=

Virtual reality (VR) offers potential as a collaborative tool for both technology design and human-robot interaction. We utilized a participatory, human-centered design (HCD) methodology to develop a collaborative, asymmetric VR game to explore teens’ perceptions of, and interactions with, social robots. Our paper illustrates three stages of our design process; ideation, prototyping, and usability testing with users. Through these stages we identified important design requirements for our mid-fidelity environment. We then describe findings from our pilot test of the mid-fidelity VR game with teens. Due to the unique asymmetric virtual reality design, we observed successful collaborations, and interesting collaboration styles across teens. This study highlights the potential for asymmetric VR as a collaborative design tool as well as an appropriate medium for successful teen-to-teen collaboration.