Robot-Supported Information Search: Which Conversational Interaction Style do Children Prefer?

Searching via speech with a robot can be used to better support children in expressing their information needs. We report on an exploratory study where children (N=35) worked on search tasks with two robots using different interaction styles. One system posed closed, yes/no questions and was more system-driven while the other system used open-ended questions and was more user-driven. We studied children's preferences and experiences of these interaction styles using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. We found no overall strong preference between the interaction styles. However, some children reported task-dependent preferences. We further report on children's interpretation and reasoning around interaction styles for robots supporting information search.