In which module and with which objective was Pepper used as a trainer?

The robot Pepper was used for the first time in the winter semester 2021/2022 as a trainer in the module ‘Learning Design’ (lecturer: Prof. Dr Ilona Buchem) in the Business Administration Digital Economy programme in Faculty I.

The Pepper application as a trainer was programmed by Rezaul Tutul (doctoral student in the field of non-verbal interaction with humanoid robots as part of the cooperative doctorate with BHT and HU Berlin).

The task of the robot Pepper was to carry out an empathy mapping exercise, i.e. a method for analysing the target group that is used in various design approaches, such as design thinking and learning experience design. Pepper's role was to support the students in creating an empathy map with the help of explanations, examples and questions about the individual fields in the empathy map.

The aim was to use the Pepper robot to facilitate a structured exercise with time constraints in which the students could experience the process of empathy mapping in practice and create an empathy map step by step with the support of the robot.