Can social robots help foster curiosity and a growth mindset?

A growth mindset and curiosity have significant impact on children’s academic and social achievements. We developed and evaluated a novel expressive cognitive-affective architecture that synergistically integrates models of curiosity, understanding of mindsets, and expressive social behaviors to advance the state-of the-art of robot companions. In doing so, we contribute major advancements in the design of AI algorithms for artificial curiosity, artificial mindset, and their verbal and non-verbal expressiveness in a social robot companion for children.