Adding More Value Than Work: Practical Guidelines for Integrating Robots into Intercultural Competence Learning

2026-02-08

AI Summary

This study addresses the effective integration of social robots in K-12 education to support students’ intercultural competence development, balancing pedagogical utility with ethical and regulatory considerations. Through a two-phase teacher participatory design workshop grounded in human-robot interaction (HRI) principles and thematic analysis, the research co-constructs the robot’s supportive role and appropriate classroom scenarios, emphasizing its function as a complement—not a replacement—to teachers. The work proposes a set of design guidelines for deploying social robots in authentic educational settings, foregrounding human-robot collaboration, ethical compliance, and pedagogical alignment. By bridging the practical gap in applying robots to intercultural education, this study offers the HRI community an empirically grounded and actionable framework for developing classroom-oriented social robots.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Safety, Robustness & Trustworthiness

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Fairness and ethical considerations in crowd work and in human-in-the-loop AI systems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

While social robots have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting students'intercultural competence development, it is unclear how they can effectively be adopted for integrated use in K-12 schools. We conducted two phases of design workshops with teachers, where they co-designed robot-mediated intercultural activities while considering student needs and school integration concerns. Using thematic analysis, we identify appropriate scenarios and roles for classroom robots, explore how robots could complement rather than replace teachers, and consider how to address ethical and compliance considerations. Our findings provide practical design guidelines for the HRI community to develop social robots that can effectively support intercultural education in K-12 schools.

Problem

• social robots
• intercultural competence
• K-12 education
• classroom integration
• human-robot interaction

Innovation

• social robots
• intercultural competence
• co-design
• K-12 education
• human-robot interaction