The Robots in Groups (RIG) Lab, directed by Dr. Malte Jung, assistant professor of Information Science at Cornell University, was the featured presenter at the Ithaca Sciencenter Showtime!, held on Saturday, July 30.

During the event, Dr. Solace Shen gave an overview of current child-robot interaction research and engaged the audience in the exploration of research questions such as: Can robots become children’s friends? In what ways can robots help children develop and grow? Undergraduate research assistants Trinh LeIlan Mandel, Pehuén Moure, and Chu Zhuang also demonstrated the technology behind two robots used in the lab’s current research projects that investigate whether and how robots can (1) help children develop constructive conflict resolution skills, and (2) facilitate foreign language learning.