Adding More Value Than Work: Practical Guidelines for Integrating Robots into Intercultural Competence Learning

While social robots have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting students’ intercultural competence development, it is unclear how they can effectively be adopted for integrated use in K-12 schools. We conducted two phases of design workshops with teachers, where they co-designed robot-mediated intercultural activities while considering student needs and school integration concerns. Using thematic analysis, we identify appropriate scenarios and roles for classroom robots, explore how robots could complement rather than replace teachers, and consider how to address ethical and compliance considerations. Our findings provide practical design guidelines for the HRI community to develop social robots that can effectively support intercultural education in K-12 schools.

💡 Research Summary

The paper addresses the gap between promising laboratory studies of social robots for intercultural competence (IC) development and their practical integration into K‑12 classrooms. Recognizing that teachers face significant barriers—language differences, cultural misunderstandings, limited resources, and insufficient professional development—the authors adopt a participatory co‑design approach to explore how robots can add value without displacing teachers.

Two rounds of workshops were conducted with a total of 17 teachers from diverse subjects, grade levels, and school types across the United States. In the first phase (nine teachers), participants discussed their current practices for fostering social‑emotional skills and IC, viewed demonstration videos of the Haru robot (a prototype capable of speech, gestures, and facial expressions), and engaged in ideation and risk‑identification activities. The second phase (eight teachers) built on the ideas generated earlier, presenting concrete robot‑mediated activity prototypes, evaluating feasibility, and discussing infrastructure, ethical, and compliance concerns. Data were collected via Zoom transcriptions (online sessions) and manual notes (in‑person sessions), then analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke).

Three major themes emerged. First, multilingual support: teachers saw robots as personal language guides that could provide real‑time translation, repetitive dialogue practice, and level‑adapted interaction, thereby reducing the burden of addressing heterogeneous language proficiencies in a single class. Second, misunderstanding and conflict mediation: because robots are perceived as culturally neutral, they can serve as third‑party mediators, helping resolve sensitive intercultural disputes without the teacher’s personal biases influencing the outcome. Third, integration and infrastructure: sustainable deployment requires reliable physical space, network stability, maintenance staff, data privacy safeguards, and school‑level policy and budgeting support. Teachers also emphasized the need for professional training on robot operation and on using robots as pedagogical mediators.

From these insights, the authors formulate actionable design guidelines: (1) position the robot as a learning partner and mediator rather than a substitute teacher; (2) provide modular, teacher‑configurable functionalities (e.g., translation, dialogue simulation, conflict mediation) that align with existing curricula; (3) embed feedback loops for continuous improvement based on teacher and student experiences; (4) ensure school‑wide technical and policy infrastructure (power, Wi‑Fi, security, privacy) is in place before rollout; and (5) develop comprehensive teacher training that covers both technical operation and intercultural facilitation strategies.

The discussion underscores that teacher involvement as co‑designers is crucial for acceptance and long‑term sustainability. While the study’s sample is limited to U.S. teachers and does not yet include in‑situ classroom trials, it offers a concrete roadmap for HRI researchers and educational technology developers seeking to move from controlled experiments to real‑world classroom practice. Future work should involve longitudinal field deployments to assess learning outcomes, teacher workload impact, and the social dynamics introduced by robot mediators.

In sum, the paper contributes a grounded, teacher‑centered framework for integrating social robots into intercultural competence education, highlighting the robot’s role in adding pedagogical value, mediating cultural interactions, and fitting within existing school ecosystems.