An investigation of the differences between robot and virtual learning companions' influences on students' engagement

We investigate the differences of the influences between robot and virtual learning companions on students' engagement. From the analysis of our experimental result and interview, we found that virtual learning companion and robot learning companion both rose up students' motivation and engagement. The differences between these two types of learning companions is that one of them made subjects more concentrated on the task and the other extended subjects' time on task. We shall offer some advices for the researchers who design learning companion systems.