Project EMAR

January 28, 2017

Preparing EMAR for Field Study at Local High-School

emar

This week our research team was hard at work planning for the field study at a local high-school. We took both V1 and V2 of EMAR to the high school on Friday and discovered how students reacted to the robot. The research group received tech training and gained more knowledge regarding the wiring of EMAR from the technology team. The technology team also gave the other members access to the code on GitLab.

Research and Tech Team Working Together

Both teams worked collaboratively this week during the field study and during the meeting. The tech team created an opening for a smartphone camera on EMAR. They also prepared to show the rest of the team how the robot works.

Overview of the hardware of V2

Two plugs are needed in order for the robot to work: the sound plug and the power plug. To get the robot to work, the sound plug must be inserted into the sound jack and the power plug into the master. Simple. The robot runs on two Arduinos: the slave and the master. The master is what the code runs on. So for example, if it wants something done with the eyes and the sound, the master will send a signal to the slave and the robot will respond accordingly. Basically, there is a master Arduino that connects to the screen and the slave Arduino which connects to the eyes and sound. The sound board has an sd card that plugs into it that has all the sound files on it.

Logistics for the field study 

Two tables will be set up, a table for each version of EMAR. The students will interact with V1 and then with V2 of EMAR. We would record the student interaction using a video camera placed on the side of the table. Additionally, there’ll be a smartphone camera inside EMAR recording the student who is interacting with EMAR directly. Additionally, there will be two other tables where students will go after interacting with the robots. While at those tables, two researchers will conduct focus groups, but those focus groups will not be recorded by video but by audio instead.

Sketch of field study groups.