The essential applications of educational robot: Requirement analysis from the perspectives of experts, researchers and instructors

Robots can benefit education in many ways, and robotics holds great promise as a learning technology. However, the use of robots in education remains largely unknown to both researchers and educators. Many educators and developers have questions regarding the essential applications for robots used in education. Thus, this study aims to identify the essential applications of educational robots. To gain insight from the perspectives of researchers, experts and educators, we investigate the requirements of educational robots in all levels of education through 3 approaches: systematic literature review, expert interviews and instructor surveys. We review the extant literature that addresses the use of robots in education and adopted data from one of them, and conduct interviews with industry experts, scholars and instructors. We also conduct an online survey that invites instructors from six different levels of education to respond. We find the following to be the top five essential applications for educational robots: language education, robotics education, teaching assistance, social skill development and special education, and guided learning through feedback.