Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search

Thomas Beelen; Roeland Ordelman; Khiet P. Truong; Vanessa Evers; Theo Huibers

doi:10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35

Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search

Thomas Beelen^*, Roeland Ordelman, Khiet P. Truong, Vanessa Evers, Theo Huibers

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of AI, we anticipate that children will increasingly turn to conversational search systems instead of traditional search engines. We developed a speech-based conversational robot and tested its effectiveness in helping children formulate queries through suggestions. The study took place in a museum with 48 children. Two ways of providing suggestions were compared. No significant effect was found on children’s suggestion usage, nor on their self-reported attitudes. Additionally, we explored two novel research instruments to measure children’s attitude toward the robot’s actions. We found that children provided significantly more feedback, and more positive feedback, with one of the instruments. Our contributions to developing conversational search technology for children include advancements in conversational search design, the exploration of appropriate research instruments, and suggestions for future work in this field.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings
Editors	Oskar Palinko, Leon Bodenhagen, John-John Cabibihan, Kerstin Fischer, Selma Šabanović, Katie Winkle, Laxmidhar Behera, Shuzhi Sam Ge, Dimitrios Chrysostomou, Wanyue Jiang, Hongsheng He
Publisher	Springer
Pages	417-430
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Print)	9789819635245
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35
Publication status	Published - 25 Mar 2025
Event	16th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2024 - Odense, Denmark Duration: 23 Oct 2024 → 26 Oct 2024 Conference number: 16

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume	15563 LNAI
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	16th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2024
Abbreviated title	ICSR 2024
Country/Territory	Denmark
City	Odense
Period	23/10/24 → 26/10/24

Keywords

2025 OA procedure
Conversational Robots
Evaluation Methods
Information Retrieval
Spoken Conversational Search
Children

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35

978-981-96-3525-2_35Final published version, 951 KBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

Beelen, T., Ordelman, R., Truong, K. P., Evers, V., & Huibers, T. (2025). Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search. In O. Palinko, L. Bodenhagen, J.-J. Cabibihan, K. Fischer, S. Šabanović, K. Winkle, L. Behera, S. S. Ge, D. Chrysostomou, W. Jiang, & H. He (Eds.), Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings (pp. 417-430). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15563 LNAI). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35

Beelen, Thomas ; Ordelman, Roeland ; Truong, Khiet P. et al. / Ask and You Shall Find : How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search. Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings. editor / Oskar Palinko ; Leon Bodenhagen ; John-John Cabibihan ; Kerstin Fischer ; Selma Šabanović ; Katie Winkle ; Laxmidhar Behera ; Shuzhi Sam Ge ; Dimitrios Chrysostomou ; Wanyue Jiang ; Hongsheng He. Springer, 2025. pp. 417-430 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).

@inproceedings{ac4ff22235774cc7bd0bc3c496cc4ce8,

title = "Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search",

abstract = "With the rapid advancement of AI, we anticipate that children will increasingly turn to conversational search systems instead of traditional search engines. We developed a speech-based conversational robot and tested its effectiveness in helping children formulate queries through suggestions. The study took place in a museum with 48 children. Two ways of providing suggestions were compared. No significant effect was found on children{\textquoteright}s suggestion usage, nor on their self-reported attitudes. Additionally, we explored two novel research instruments to measure children{\textquoteright}s attitude toward the robot{\textquoteright}s actions. We found that children provided significantly more feedback, and more positive feedback, with one of the instruments. Our contributions to developing conversational search technology for children include advancements in conversational search design, the exploration of appropriate research instruments, and suggestions for future work in this field.",

keywords = "2025 OA procedure, Conversational Robots, Evaluation Methods, Information Retrieval, Spoken Conversational Search, Children",

author = "Thomas Beelen and Roeland Ordelman and Truong, \{Khiet P.\} and Vanessa Evers and Theo Huibers",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.; 16th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2024, ICSR 2024 ; Conference date: 23-10-2024 Through 26-10-2024",

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doi = "10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2\_35",

language = "English",

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pages = "417--430",

editor = "Oskar Palinko and Leon Bodenhagen and John-John Cabibihan and Kerstin Fischer and Selma {\v S}abanovi{\'c} and Katie Winkle and Laxmidhar Behera and Ge, \{Shuzhi Sam\} and Dimitrios Chrysostomou and Wanyue Jiang and Hongsheng He",

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Beelen, T , Ordelman, R , Truong, KP , Evers, V & Huibers, T 2025, Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search. in O Palinko, L Bodenhagen, J-J Cabibihan, K Fischer, S Šabanović, K Winkle, L Behera, SS Ge, D Chrysostomou, W Jiang & H He (eds), Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 15563 LNAI, Springer, pp. 417-430, 16th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2024, Odense, Denmark, 23/10/24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35

Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search. / Beelen, Thomas ; Ordelman, Roeland ; Truong, Khiet P. et al.
Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings. ed. / Oskar Palinko; Leon Bodenhagen; John-John Cabibihan; Kerstin Fischer; Selma Šabanović; Katie Winkle; Laxmidhar Behera; Shuzhi Sam Ge; Dimitrios Chrysostomou; Wanyue Jiang; Hongsheng He. Springer, 2025. p. 417-430 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 15563 LNAI).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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AB - With the rapid advancement of AI, we anticipate that children will increasingly turn to conversational search systems instead of traditional search engines. We developed a speech-based conversational robot and tested its effectiveness in helping children formulate queries through suggestions. The study took place in a museum with 48 children. Two ways of providing suggestions were compared. No significant effect was found on children’s suggestion usage, nor on their self-reported attitudes. Additionally, we explored two novel research instruments to measure children’s attitude toward the robot’s actions. We found that children provided significantly more feedback, and more positive feedback, with one of the instruments. Our contributions to developing conversational search technology for children include advancements in conversational search design, the exploration of appropriate research instruments, and suggestions for future work in this field.

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Beelen T , Ordelman R , Truong KP , Evers V , Huibers T. Ask and You Shall Find: How Suggestions by a Conversational Robot Assist Children with Information Search. In Palinko O, Bodenhagen L, Cabibihan JJ, Fischer K, Šabanović S, Winkle K, Behera L, Ge SS, Chrysostomou D, Jiang W, He H, editors, Social Robotics - 16th International Conference, ICSR + AI 2024, Proceedings. Springer. 2025. p. 417-430. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). doi: 10.1007/978-981-96-3525-2_35