Re: Retraining robots

Hi all.

I'm not sure that retraining is very important. I think the best style (both cognitively and practically) is to keep your robots "small". Lots of simple robots is easier to think about and easier to manipulate and edit than a few complex robots. If a robot is trained to do only a handful of steps then training over again rather than retraining is straightforward. And the repetition may be helpful in understanding the robot better. Kids don't seem to mind the repetition as much as adults.

Regarding problem 1, there are some differences and there is an issue. Many people name robots after training them - in that case only trained robots have names (either generated or edited). Beginning rather recently the drop feedback now makes it clear whether the drop is back in the thought bubble (because it was removed to edit more easily) or the drop is to the robot to retrain. In the first case the thought bubble wiggles rather than the whole robot. Untrained robots don't make this distinction. Also for the most part people grab an untrained robot when they need one so there isn't much risk of confusion.

Regarding 2 I think this would be useful but needs to careful design. I think reusing the time travel controls would be confusing. Not convinced that this should be a high priority enhancement.

Best,

-ken
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Celia Hoyles 
  To: Gordon Simpson ; Weblabs Requests 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 5:23 PM
  Subject: Re: [WebLabs-requests] Retraining robots


  WE have not used retraining robots much with children before
  This seems a very important change


  A
  t 17:41 +0000 8/3/04, Gordon Simpson wrote:
  >Hi All,
  >
  >We ran a session last week that involved kids retraining a robot. The
  >session actually went quite well, but highlighted what I think are a
  >couple of UI problems with robot retraining:
  >
  >1). Once you have sucked out the input box from a robot's thought bubble
  >there is no visual difference between an untrained robot, and one that
  >is ready to be retrained.
  >2). Kids wanted to add some robot actions to the end of a sequence of
  >actions. It was quite common for them to move the mouse (or maybe press
  >a key) almost straight away after entering retraining, thereby taking
  >over control and stopping the previous actions that they really wanted
  >to happen. When retraining it is far to easy to accidentally do this, as
  >there is no visual indication that (a) the robot is replaying the
  >actions he was previously taught and (b) if you move the mouse (or press
  >a key) you will take over control of the training.
  >
  >For problem 1, you could possibly have a greyed out input box left in
  >the thought bubble after sucking out the real one (this greyed one
  >wouldn't be a real object that could be manipulated). This would show
  >what type of box the robot was trained with and distinguish it from an
  >untrained one.
  >
  >I think 2 is the more serious problem. One solution would be to use the
  >Time Travel metaphor when entering robot retraining. When you enter, the
  >robot is playing back what it was trained to do, and in order to take
  >over control you need to hit record. Don't know if this can work in the
  >same way as the 'real' existing time travel. E.g. what happens if the
  >user really wants to time travel while already in 'retraining' replay
  >mode? E.g. what happens if the user doesn't have time travel enabled?
  >
  >
  >-------------------------------------------
  >G o r d o n   S i m p s o n
  >W e b L a b s   R e s e a r c h e r
  >I n s t i t u t e   o f   E d u c a t i o n
  >===========================================
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >Yahoo! Groups Links
  >
  >
  >
  >


  -- 
  Best wishes


  --Celia




------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Yahoo! Groups Links

    a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WebLabs-requests/
      
    b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [email protected]
      
    c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.