kana
The Social Coon Can Robot
Overview
Kana is a social robot centered around the Chaldean culture intended for the 60+ elders of their community. Kana’s design is made to be mobile with facial and vocal recognition to assist in the social lives of its user. Kana has a unique design made to assist in the card game, Coon can, with RFID playing cards and reader built inside.
Role: User Researcher
September 2020 – Ongoing
Kana received a Grant of Funding from Michigan State University and will be further developed in 2021
Problem Statment
- Chaldean seniors love playing Coon Can, but with the pandemic occurring, many difficulties arise
- The game helps bring the community together, and without the game, the seniors are sad and the community feels broken
- The game accounts for majority of the social lives of the Chaldean elders
- The goal of the robot is to facilitate social interaction of those seniors in the playing of the game
- Act as a social interaction promoter
- Assist gameplay
- Rebuild the social lives and skills of the elders
- Heal any social damage
Explorative Research
Research began by watching and understanding participants play the game while observing their social interactions. The participants that met the criteria for the desired users were then interviewed.
- Researcher used selective and purposive sampling when choosing the focus group
Interview Set 1
Initial Demographics
- As the participants are above the age of sixty, the design would have to account for larger texts and images so that they are easier to read.
- The players would have to be interchangeable to the robot if the players were to keep track of the games and other players over longer periods, particularly for those who play with multiple groups.
- necessity of a robot that would connect multiple players and playing groups together undoubtedly existed.
Individual Group Questions
The players were extremely frequent in playing Coon Can and playing outside of their homes.
The robot itself should ultimately be portable and have a wireless charger. Since people play with multiple groups, every player would ideally have their own Coon Can robot.
The side-rules change depending on each group, so Kana should have a primary set of rules with which to comply.
Gameplay Experience
- This analysis confirms that the robot would be more useful when playing the game by points.
- these primary rules will heavily influence the robot’s coding and functionality.
- It was inferred and concluded from the data that the robot’s design will primarily be universal for either type of gameplay but will be initially designed for the game scored by points.
- Possibly, Kana would even convert people into playing the game by points.
Cosmetic Evaluation
Robot A, BB-8 from Star Wars, was the most liked robot of the participants
This study showed that the curved design was also the friendliest for Kana’s design.
The design research data collected through observations, recordings, and interviews supported and helped in finalizing the prototype of Kana
Interview Set 2
Initial Demographics
This range allowed to account for all aspects of the elder Chaldean community.
Alison represents the widowed population, which given the age is significant, and the many social Coon Can players.
Randy represents the slightly younger, married, caretakers of the desired users.
Bella represented the single members of the community as well as those that do not play Coon Can competitively.
All participants were active in their social lives but with the current pandemic were significantly less active.
Technological Assessment
The participants are all avid smartphone users.
This demonstrates their willingness and capability to understand technology.
The participants lack finesse with technology that would enable them to use their phone to the fullest extent of its capabilities with social apps.
This establishes the participants’ level of compatibility and the need for Kana.
Communication Assessment
- mobile communication skills are lacking due to a shortage of in-depth knowledge.
- phone calls overall consist of talking to people as if they were face to face.
- do not use the facetime feature but would like to.
- Alison’s communication with her friends shows the underlying worry that they will be unable to play for a while, and her friends do not want to lose their skills.
- Given that Alison’s accounts for the majority of Chaldean seniors who play the game at a competitive level, the results show a need for social technology in this cultural group, specifically a device with the abilities to assist in coon can.
COVID-19 Social Assessment
The results prove how the participants have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
the data suggest that now, more than ever, this demographic group needs a social robot tailed to their culture.
knowing the risk, Alison felt disconnected from reality by not being able to play Coon Can or see her friends.
Overall, the participants are saddened and lonely. They miss the activities the church or the club would plan for them and have not seen many people in a long time.
Alison and Bella would like a device that is easy to use, so they are not dependent on someone teaching them how to use it.
User Test
Physical Design Feedback
Alison liked the look of the robot and was happy with the rounded design rather than a humanoid robot.
Although Alison and Bella come from different backgrounds both in education and in their current social lives within the Chaldean community, they would both use this robot in their lives.
Randy may see himself one day using a robot like this. However, he felt the only aspect he would currently use is that of assisting but not to facilitate social interaction
Bella felt similar and offered insight into the robots she had seen throughout her career as an engineer and liked the simplistic look of this one.
Functionality Feedback
The participant’s backgrounds were taken into account for the perception of Kana.
Alison’s main social life revolves around the card game and thus wanted the features further developed.
Randy provided insight for future users of the product with the understanding of the community in mind.
Bella came from a background in engineering yet still had some reservations about Kana. She wanted Kana to have a friendlier design that the prototype presented.
Future Modifications
- Improve the prototype based on the results we received from the participants
- Facilitate remote playing
- Vocal Recognition
- Process commands
- Personalized responses
- Facial Recognition
- Direct actions towards users
- Turn to face correct user
- Add ability to shuffle the cards and dispense