This is the result of session 1 in my course on Social Robot Design (2025/2026).
This is done with:
- Liz van Ginderen (s27349745)
- Anna Hornman (s3056600)
- Oyindrila Sen Gupta (s3697762)
- Sarah Mans (s2306379)
2. Invent a case: How can I check your well-being?
Target group
- Students (ages 18–24) ← Chosen focus
- Children (ages 5–12)
- Elderly
Well-being types
- Overall well-being
- List of questions (see next page)
- Emotional regulation / mood tracking
- Physical activity / gamified exercise
- Social connection / combating loneliness
Cases
- Suggest calling a friend or family member — Mindfulness
- Breathing exercise — Sleep hygiene / bedtime routines, mental overload / overworking
- Study session check-in — Do you need a break?
Research questions
- How can the Miro robot….
- How can the Miro robot be expanded upon to help students (ages 18–24) with their overall well-being?
- How can the Miro robot transform to guide students (ages 18–24) through a study session?
3. Get familiar with design methods
The cards we picked were Scenario analysis, Storyboard and Experience map.
The assignment was: Argue how they could be of value for the given challenge: what can you learn by applying method X to our problem Y? Use your imagination, be as concrete as possible, exaggerate!
Chosen cards from the [User Innovation Toolkit]
Scenario analysis
- A scenario analysis can be used to imagine future scenarios and reason through them to get a better understanding of our challenge. For example, your target audience is students. You could imagine scenarios where students are sitting down and talking with the Miro robot. The Miro robot would be asking questions, and the students answering. You can put yourself in the shoes of the students, and walk through the scenario itself as if you were there.
- We could also use the scenario analysis to analyse the situation before the Miro robot is implemented to see what problems come up during the original situation.
Storyboard
- A storyboard can be used to visualise how a user uses a product or service. It is a bit similar to the scenario analysis, but now we are really visually looking at what is happening. So you could have images of the Miro robot talking, and students listening. Or it could capture a specific expression of the robot or students.
Experience map
- An experience map can be used to visualize the experience the user goes through while using the product. An experience map can become even more valuable when two are made of the same scenario, one without the product and one with the product. These can then be compared to see what the effect of the product actually is.
- It can also be used during the design stage to visualize what effect we want the product to have on the experience.
4,5,6. Mindmap
We also made a mindmap:
7. Functional breakdown
Building blocks
Hardware
- Utilize Miro’s built-in hardware, such as the actuated eyes and 3 DoF neck — this should give enough creative freedom to express physical expressions effectively.
- Some type of Miro extension kit, which can be used to have Miro do more things or give it tools:
- Add an outer piece to the back for extra speakers for questions, while keeping lights visible
- Add sensors for heart rate / other physiological data to make reactions more specific (requires touch)
- Make the robot dance / dance mode to lift mood
- Add a timer for the breathing exercise
- Add wings
Software
- Use the built-in speaker to enable Miro to talk with students.
- No heavy emphasis on software needed, since verbal and physical communication can be puppeteered by a human.
Outer design
- Create accessories or other components for the Miro (e.g. different ears, collars, clothes, or other add-ons) to make the robot fit into the decided scenario — in this case, university students.
What can be Wizard-of-Ozed
- The talking and possibly limited physical expressions
- In principle, everything could be Wizard-of-Ozed
Experiment
- Theatre exercise to see how students respond to a check-in
- Theatre exercise for different types of check-in
- Theatre exercise with different kinds of questions / themes
- Theatre exercise to see how students answer certain prompts
- Theatre exercise to see how students’ facial expressions change