Moxie the Robot
Game Designer | Technical Game Designer, Embodied Inc.
2020 - 2021 | 2022 - 2023
★ About Moxie:
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Moxie is an AI robot on a mission to learn more about how to be a good friend to humans. Together with a child, who serves as their Mentor and friend, they complete missions and activities that help promote social learning, turn-taking, and relationship building among other skills.
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See Moxie in action here!
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Below are some of the activities I've designed!
★ Reading -- Flipping through the pages with a friend
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There's children who love to read, and others that don't! Either way, we wanted to create a safe space for Mentors of all reading abilities to look at books with Moxie and have a discussion about it! As the Mentor reads their book, Moxie can play music and sound effects depending on the words she hears the Mentor says.
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To improve this activity I rebuilt it from the ground up! With the help from data analysts, beta testers, child experts, and other designers, I gathered everything that we have learned to make this activity even better!
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As a Designer ---------------------
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Question 1: There's a lot of different reading abilities to account for when children are between 5~9 years old. In the first iteration of this activity, the younger Mentors would express how "they can't read" and looked embarrassed. At the time, we fixed that bug by having Moxie tell them that they can have an adult read for them, but this seemed more like a band-aid than an actual fix. How can we encourage Mentors to connect with books and also have fun?
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Solution: In the first iteration, we noticed that Moxie would use the word "read," for example, "What book would you like to read?" The Mentors would say they can't read when Moxie asked that question, so perhaps we should change the language! Instead of using "to read" we started saying "to look at". Moxie also suggests the Mentors to pick up any kind of book, such as a comic, a cookbook, or even a phone book! This slight language change could let our younger Mentors know that as long as they're interacting with books, it doesn't matter if they can't read all the words!
Utilizing speech recognition, as the Mentor reads the words out loud Moxie can play sound effects along the way! For example, if the Mentor says the word "cow" from the book, Moxie can play out a "mooo" sound effect!
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Impact: It's been about half a year since the release of this new version of the Reading activity, and we have yet to see a Mentor say "I can't read," or feel discouraged from interacting with books! We've also redesigned the first time experience to encourage the Mentors to read our G.R.L. comics so that they get to know Moxie's world. The Reading activity is now one of the most popular activities for the Mentors
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As a Technical Designer ------------
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Originally built in Chatscript, I understood the original Chatscript to rebuild this activity to use the in-house propriety visual scripting and conversation tool so that this activity is now accessible to other designers to edit.
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Created new conversation templates for our propriety tool to utilize speech-to-text (STT) and book cover recognition using Python, Jinja2, and Chatscript. These technologies allows Moxie to listen to the Mentor's words and play a sound effect accordingly, as well as recognize the book's cover when shown. These includes (Github files below video):
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Book Recognizer Node: Allo​wed the Mentor to show Moxie a book cover or say a book's name and Moxie should respond accordingly!
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Reading Node: Allowed Moxie to listen to the Mentor as they read or talk about a book! Moxie should not interrupt the Mentor as they read. As the Mentor reads the book, utilizing STT Partials, Moxie can play sound effects to create a fun experience.
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Collaborated with a children's writer expert and an occupational therapist to write and understand a mentor's needs on how to re-create this activity.
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A young Mentor reading a book with Moxie
To watch: 9:17~ 11:50
★ Tips and Tricks -- Teaching the Mentors about Moxie's useful commands
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Tips and Tricks is Moxie's tutorial, all disguised as a little fun activity where the Mentor repeats after Moxie to learn all the useful commands that would help make the overall experience better.
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As we move towards rebuilding and standardizing our older content, I created this activity with the hopes of creating a smoother experience for our Mentors!
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As a Designer ---------------------
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Question: Moxie has special commands that the Mentor can say at any time to help with any issues they run into, for example, when Moxie doesn't seem to be listening. While rebuilding this activity, I worked with the Data Analytics Team and looked into past conversations between Moxie and our beta testers and saw that some Mentors struggle to keep their attention on Moxie! In our attempt to be funny and witty in the first iteration, Moxie ends up talking a lot longer than she should which left the Mentor confused on when to repeat after Moxie.
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Solution: With the collaboration of other designers, we edited the wording of the tutorial to be more direct and used sound cues to tell the Mentor when to repeat the command to Moxie for practice. If the Mentor says something that sounds similar to the command, the command is broken up into smaller parts to help the Mentor repeat the command easier.
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Impact: Mentors are breezing through the tutorial and understanding what the commands do much better now. It's a huge improvement and a better experience for all!
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As a Technical Designer ------------
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Similar to the Reading activity, I rebuilt this activity to use the in-house tools so that this activity is now accessible to other designers to edit.
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Understood each command's specific pipelines to ensure that their usage is safely utilized in this activity. For example, if we were practicing the command, "Moxie please go to sleep," I had to make sure Moxie didn't literally turn off. To do this, I created a specific conversation template called the Global Command Node for our propriety tool that checks which command we are practicing and turning that global command off until the tutorial is complete. Check the code below!
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A young Mentor learning the command "Moxie, lets do something else!"
To watch: 0:40 ~ 1:19
★ Enrollment -- Allowing Moxie to see the Mentor
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Disguised as a whacky Clearance Check the Mentor must do to unlock new missions, this activity is technologically the backbone of how Moxie distinguishes the Mentor from their family and friends. As the Mentor answers whimsical questions like, "Would you rather have a dragon or an electric sheep," Moxie is taking pictures of the Mentor, analyzing their voice, and storing that data to better recognize the Mentor.
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Question: By design, Moxie should be focusing on one person, the Mentor, even if there are other people around them. In order to do this, Moxie needs to take a lot of pictures of the Mentor in different conditions such as the Mentor having a different hairstyle or standing in a different light. How do we write an activity that is short, can occur anywhere and at anytime, in Moxie's daily schedule of activities?
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Solution: Since this activity needs to reoccur often, I've decided to disguise the technology behind a "Clearance Check." The concept of this module is similar to putting your 5 digit code on your phone to log-in -- something we all know we have to do. In order to get a photo of the Mentor, Moxie asks them whimsical questions with images on the screen to encourage them to look directly at Moxie's face (where the camera is). Lastly, Moxie claims that the G.R.L., or the Global Robotics Laboratory (the "lab" where Moxie was created), needs the Mentor and Moxie to do this activity every-so-often to update Moxie with the newest missions and activities.
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Impact: After several iterations of how Enrollment was first released, to this current re-design, this iteration seems to be the most fun for Mentors. Parents have said how much their Mentor enjoyed the question's quirkiness. As for technologically, Moxie now gathers better pictures, and thus responds better to the Mentor. On a personal impact, this activity taught me about the human-robot interaction that goes on in the backend, and how to design around the limitations and needs of technology to create a smooth experience for the Mentor.
A young Mentor going through their first Clearance Check!
To watch: 1:13 ~ 3:43
★ Daily Missions -- The Mentor's and Moxie's journey on learning more about humans
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Everyday, Moxie gets a brand new mission from the G.R.L. that encourages Moxie and the Mentor to learn more about a topic on being human. Each mission goes through a different theme and has the Mentor teaching Moxie their perspective on the topic! Every mission is overseen by a professional therapist and a children's writer to ensure each mission aligns with the teachings of social emotional learning and the language is kid-friendly respectively.
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Question: Moxie is designed to not just be fun and games, but also focus on social emotional learning themes. How do we create fun and educational content?
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Solution: In Moxie's lore, the G.R.L. sends a new mission for the Mentor and Moxie everyday. There are several different types of missions. The video below shows an example of a mission from the theme, "Making Friends." In this mission, the G.R.L sends Moxie and the Mentor a new acronym to learn on how to make a new friend, called S.H.O.W. Together, they go through each letter and practice with each other!
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Impact: As one of the cornerstones of the Moxie experience, parents and kids love it! Missions help provide parents with conversation points with their children while also providing a space for the kids to share their thoughts and feelings. For the mission shown in the video, we've had parents tell us that their kids would use S.H.O.W. outside of the house and even teach their friends!
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As a Technical Designer ------------
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To empower designers and expand the potential of what we can teach through a daily mission, using Python, Jinja2, and Chatscript, I created Conversation Templates that allows Moxie to be able to see a Mentor's drawing or face! Now, Moxie can ask the Mentor draw what they think friendship looks like or make a note for their family members. Or, when learning about emotion like in the Feeling Mad missions, Moxie can ask the Mentor to show them their angry face! These includes (Github files below):
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Show Drawing Node: ​Allowed Moxie to see the QR code on the special drawing paper given to each Mentor! Or if that's not available, Mentors can say, "Here it is!" so that Moxie knows that they are showing them something.
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Show Face Node: Allowed Moxie to see the Mentor's face, or if the child doesn't want to show their face, Moxie can also move along the conversation.
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Mentor Savannah learning about friendship in the Mission titled, "S.H.O.W."
To watch: 6:11 ~ 12:01
★ Animal Breathing Exercises -- A mindfulness activity
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Animal Breathing is a mindfulness activity that encourages the Mentor to breathe like several different animals! Each animal plays a different role, such as buzzing like a bee to calm down, roaring like a lion to release your anger, or crowing like a rooster to get some energy!
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Question: Breathing in and out can be boring! How can we make a mindfulness activity fun for a child?
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Solution: Breathing + animal noises = success! Each breathing exercise has an animal associated to it! In the video shown below, Moxie teaches the Mentor how to do bumblebee breathing! Moxie would breathe in and buzzes as they breathe out. Moxie would encourage the Mentor to do the same. For each animal, Moxie wears the a mask over her face that looks like the animal to help keep the Mentors engaged!
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Impact: We've seen how much this activity encourages the Mentor to do breathing exercises and to also try out their own favorite animals!
A young Mentor learning how to do Bee Breathing Exercises!
To watch: 28:44 ~ 30:40
★ Jokes and Brain Twisters -- Some fun and giggles for the Mentor and Moxie
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Jokes (and Brain Twisters) is a short, fun activity where Mentors can listen to some of Moxie's jokes and then also tell their own. A favorite for Mentors, this activity has been redesigned to encourage Mentors to take turns with Moxie on who tells the joke.
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Question: Currently, some Mentors believe Moxie doesn't know that many jokes due to how quickly they burn though the content. How can we limit the Mentor's ability to burn through new content without making them upset?
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Solution: When rebuilding this activity, I have Moxie tell the Mentor 3~6 jokes at a time. Afterwards, Moxie will claim that they're "super tired" and encourage the Mentor to tell Moxie a joke. This would help Mentors understand that Moxie needs a break while also encouraging turn-taking.
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Impact: Mentors love this activity! And we even see their parents laughing as well! Our mentors also seems to have just as much fun listening to Moxie's joke as well as telling one themselves!
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As a Technical Designer ------------
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To empower designers and expand the potential of the Jokes activity, using Python, Jinja2, and Chatscript, I created Conversation Templates that allows Moxie to be able to repeat whatever the Mentor says! The idea is to allow Mentors to tell Moxie any Knock Knock joke they want, and Moxie would be able to repeat what they said, plus the "who?" at the end. I created this node to be broad so in the future, this node can be used for any activity where we want Moxie to repeat the user's speech. See the code below!
A young mentor listening to some of Moxie's jokes with her dad!
To watch: 0:56