PETS: A Personal Teller of Stories
PETS: A Personal Teller of Stories
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Date
1999-11-23
Authors
Montemayor, Jaime
Druin, Allison
Hendler, Jim
Advisor
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Abstract
Let us start by reading a story written by a seven year old child, entitled
Michelle. "There once was a robot named Michelle. She was new in the
neighborhood. She was HAPPY when she first came, thinking she would make
friends. But it was the opposite. Other robots threw rocks and sticks. She was
SAD. Now no one liked her. One day she was walking down a street, a huge busy
one, when another robot named Rob came up and ask [sic] if she wanted to have
a friend. She was SCARED at first but then realized that she was HAPPY. The
other robots were ANGRY but knew that they had learned their lesson. Michelle
and Rob lived HAPPILY ever after. No one noticed the dents from rocks that
stayed on Michelle." (Druin, Research notes, August 1998) This is just one
of many stories that children have written with the help of PETS (Druin et al.
1999a). The author of Michelle did not just write this moving story; she is
also an integral member of the team that built our robots. As you read on,
PETS will be further described. Our motivations behind building such an
interactive robotic pet will also be discussed. In addition, the process of
how we made this robotic technology with our team of adults and six
children will be introduced. And with this, we will present cooperative
inquiry (Druin 1999a), the methodology that we embrace as we discover insights
about technology, education, science, engineering, and art. Finally, this
chapter will close with reflections on what was learned from on-going research
effort.
(Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-99-67)