Grad Seminar - REMind: Designing a Robotic Role-Play Game for Anti-Bullying Peer Support
Abstract
Bullying significantly impacts youth, leading to various emotional and psychological issues. REMind is an interactive game designed to help children aged 9-10 practice intervention strategies against bullying in a safe and engaging scenario. Using the Furhat social robot and inspired by Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre, REMind involves players in a narrative where they assist a robot named ECHO in resolving a disruptive glitch. The story features three robots and the child's mission is to show ECHO how to intervene as a bystander in a peer bullying scenario. The game teaches players to distinguish bullying from teasing, understand bystander roles, and develop empathy and problem-solving skills. Through interactive storytelling and emotional perspective-taking, REMind aims to enhance children's confidence and ability to intervene in bullying situations. This seminar presents some of the previous research that informed the design and development of REMind.
Presenter
Ellie Sanoubari, PhD candidate in Systems Design Engineering
Attend in person or online.