The CoWriter Project

Abstract

This video (that accompanies the paper "When Children Teach a Robot to Write: An Autonomous Teachable Humanoid Which Uses Simulated Handwriting" by the same authors, and presented as well during this conference) presents the first results of the EPFL CoWriter project. The project aims at building a robotic partner which children can teach handwriting. The system allows for the learning by teaching paradigm to be employed in the interaction, so as to stimulate meta-cognition, empathy and increased self-esteem in the child user. It is hypothesised that use of a humanoid robot in such a system could not just engage an unmotivated student, but could also present the opportunity for children to experience physically-induced benefits encountered during human-led handwriting interventions, such as motor mimicry.