Related papers: Designing a realistic peer-like embodied conversat…
Emotion education is critical for children aged 3 to 6. However, existing technologies largely focus on children's direct interaction with AI, overlooking the central role of parents in guiding early emotional development at home. To…
Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are paradigms of conversational user interfaces in the form of embodied characters. While ECAs offer various manipulable features, this paper focuses on a study conducted to explore two distinct levels…
Young people's mental well-being is a global concern, with peer support playing a key role in daily emotional regulation. Conversational agents are increasingly viewed as promising tools for delivering accessible, personalised peer support,…
Conversational agents (CAs) embodied in speakers or chatbots are becoming very popular in some countries, and despite their adult-centred design, they have become part of children's lives, generating a need for children-centric trustworthy…
Due to privacy concerns, open dialogue datasets for mental health are primarily generated through human or AI synthesis methods. However, the inherent implicit nature of psychological processes, particularly those of clients, poses…
Advances in machine intelligence have enabled conversational interfaces that have the potential to radically change the way humans interact with machines. However, even with the progress in the abilities of these agents, there remain…
The creation and support of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) has been quite challenging, as features required might not be straight-forward to implement and to integrate in a single application. Furthermore, ECAs as desktop…
An Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) is an intelligent agent that works as the front end of software applications to interact with users through verbal/nonverbal expressions and to provide online assistance without the limits of time,…
Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI) systems and Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA), such as Alexa, Cortana, Google Home and Siri are becoming ubiquitous in our lives, including those of children, the implications of which is…
Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are increasingly more realistic and capable of dynamic conversations. In online surveys, anthropomorphic agents could help address issues like careless responding and satisficing, which originate from…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly framed as a collaborative partner in creative activities, yet children's interactions with AI have largely been studied in AI-led instructional settings rather than co-creative collaboration.…
Partial subtle mirroring of nonverbal behaviors during conversations (also known as mimicking or parallel empathy), is essential for rapport building, which in turn is essential for optimal human-human communication outcomes. Mirroring has…
This paper presents an empirical investigation of the extent to which spoken Humanoid Embodied Conversational Agents (HECAs) can foster usability in mobile serious game (MSG) applications. The aim of the research is to assess the impact of…
Early language development shapes children's later literacy and learning, yet many families have limited access to scalable, high-quality support at home. Recent advances in generative AI make it possible for social robots to move beyond…
As voice-based Conversational Assistants (CAs), including Alexa, Siri, Google Home, have become commonly embedded in households, many children now routinely interact with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. It is important to research…
This work-in-progress paper presents SPARC (Systematic Problem Solving and Algorithmic Reasoning for Children), a gamified learning platform designed to enhance engagement and knowledge retention in K-12 STEM education. Traditional…
Embodied conversational agents (ECA) are often designed to produce nonverbal behavior to complement or enhance their verbal communication. One such form of nonverbal behavior is co-speech gesturing, which involves movements that the agent…
We present a new framework called KorraAI for conceiving and building embodied conversational agents (ECAs). Our framework models ECAs' behavior considering contextual information, for example, about environment and interaction time, and…
Emphasizing problem formulation in AI literacy activities with children is vital, yet we lack empirical studies on their structure and affordances. We propose that participatory design involving teachable machines facilitates problem…
Interactions with artificial intelligence (AI) based agents can positively influence human behavior and judgment. However, studies to date focus on text-based conversational agents (CA) with limited embodiment, restricting our understanding…