Application of a Learning-Companion Robot in Learning Environments

In this paper, a learning-companion robot based on a Pleo (a dinosaur-robot) is introduced. The learning-companion robot is equipped with a low-cost Web camera, a computer, and an attention monitoring algorithm so that it can not only monitor a learnerpsilas attention status but also detect whether the learner is too close to a computer screen during an on-line learning activity. The motivation of the development of the learning-companion robot is to alleviate parentspsila supervision burdens when they can not personally accompany their children to engage in some learning activities or playing computer games.