Abstract
Children bring a distinct and underexplored perspective to questions about how robots could add meaning to everyday life. We report on a participatory design workshop with 14 children, from Innovators for Purpose (iFp), an afterschool program primarily catering to underrepresented groups in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). We used personal photo probes and a scaffolded speculative design process to elicit and capture how children imagine robots adding value to their everyday lives. Introducing the concept of robots only after participants had articulated their values and challenges, we captured their robot concepts grounded in their everyday experiences. The imagined robots concepts fell within four categories: (1) automating tasks associated with hobbies, (2) fostering environmental stewardship, (3) enhancing educational experiences, and (4) enforcing digital well-being.
We illustrate the process of constructing these themes and uncover the values animating these designs. We discuss how the values may conflict and be negotiated, and the reflexive nature of imagining robots as part of everyday life. We contribute a methodology for eliciting value-based speculative design with children and discuss how children imagine future technology.
