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News

  • Paper at MuC accepted

    A few days ago, we received the exciting news that our workshop paper,Towards Privacy-friendly Telepresence Robots for Schoolchildren with Long-term Illnesses – User Needs of Relevant User Groups," was accepted at the 10th Usable Security and Privacy Workshop at "Mensch und Computer 2024." Additionally, our short paper, "“I Don’t Want Parents to Watch My Lessons” – Privacy Trade-offs in the Use of Telepresence Robots in Schools for Children with Long-term Illnesses," was accepted at "Mensch und Computer 2024" (MuC).

    "Mensch und Computer" (MuC) is a conference series on human-computer interaction in Germany. According to their website, "The goal of the conference is to discuss innovative research results, promote the exchange of information between science and practice, stimulate research activities and education, and raise awareness among science, practice, and the public about the relevance of human- and task-oriented technology design." Therefore, it is very important for many participants, including our team, to receive feedback and the opportunity to disseminate our research progress and receive suggestions for improvement.

    The workshop paper addresses aspects such as the needs of students, teachers, and parents, as well as the challenges to overcome in order to meet these needs. The needs of user groups often conflict, for example, teachers expect children to be visible in class to monitor their participation, while sick children often do not want to show their faces. Therefore, our task is to design the robots in a way that allows users to choose their preferred privacy settings.

    Important topics include the visibility of children at home, information and people in the classroom, access to lessons for third parties, and privacy agreements. A privacy-friendly solution would enable children with long-term illnesses to participate in classes without compromising the privacy and ethical concerns of others.

    Our second paper also summarizes the above aspects. We focus on the privacy trade-offs between children, parents, and potentially involved individuals, such as parents and doctors. Our goal is to find a balance between their needs and concerns.

    We are excited to be accepted as a team at MuC. We look forward to the conference in September in Karlsruhe!

    For more information about the conference: https://muc2024.mensch-und-computer.de/de/

  • 3. Workshop

    On July 8, 2024, our PRIVATAR team met in Göttingen to discuss the project and exchange further ideas. Our partners from Bonn and Duisburg-Essen joined us to talk about various scenarios on how exactly the sick schoolchildren can interact with the class when they control a mobile avatar. Additionally, we discussed how to provide the children with the necessary support.

    We were very pleased to see the team again and to talk about the project.

  • PRIVATAR goes City

    Our team participated in the "Science goes City" action day to present our research project and inspire both adults and children with the wonders of science. From 12 PM to 6 PM, scientists from the university and the Göttingen Campus offered exciting insights into their research directly in the shops of the city center.

    We were located in the Alte Mensa at Wilhelmsplatz 3 under the name " Avatars and Robots in Classrooms". Children particularly enjoyed interacting with the robot "Pepper." By giving commands, they could interact with him and even tickle him. Adults saw our project as a very worthy cause, saying, "It's wonderful that you are putting so much effort into making the school day better for sick children. Keep it up!"

    With our second robot, Cruzr, visitors were able to get a first look at our project via a presentation. Many stopped to watch the robot's movements and learn something in the process.

    Many visitors were positively surprised and asked numerous questions. One of the most frequently asked questions was:

    "Why can't you just use a laptop to let the child follow the lessons?"

    Our goal is to enable sick schoolchildren to become more mobile and autonomous with the avatar. The child can control the avatar to interact with other children and teachers. For example, the child can raise its hand and give signals. Moreover, other children can communicate better with the sick child by using different colors of light on the avatar to show emotions. We are also conducting research on data protection, as a lot of data is collected through the avatar. It is very important to us that the privacy of all is protected.

  • Scientific Publications

    Two publications from the University of Bonn relevant to our project have been released: