Hand-Raising Robot for Promoting Active Participation in Classrooms

In Japanese school classrooms, it is important to promote hand-raising, because this motion reflects active participation in the classroom. In this study, a hand-raising robot is proposed. A prototype of the robot was developed based on typical hand-raising motions, which were measured in a separate experiment. In addition, experiments were conducted and the results suggest that fast, straight, and high hand-raising is the most favorable, and that the robot with the hand-raising is effective for promoting active participation in classrooms and enhancing student enjoyment when answering questions.