Ethical robots and AI take center stage with support from National Science Foundation grant

(Press-News.org) Ethical robots and AI take center stage with support from National Science Foundation grant

September 15, 2025 — Virginia Tech researchers received a grant worth more than $500,000 from the National Science Foundation to expand robot theater, an after-school program that helps children explore robotics through performance-based learning.

In a world where human-robot interaction is constantly evolving, grade school children gain firsthand experience collaborating with robots using art as a medium. They spend afternoons dancing with robots, acting alongside them, using them to make music. 

Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon, professor of industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering, conceptualized the program in 2015 while at Michigan Technological University. He launched the first robot theater program the following year and has spent nearly a decade refining the experience and collaborating across disciplines to bring robotics education to children throughout the community. 

“The idea is to help children learn about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math while using robots,” Jeon said. “The program culminates in a performance where the children and robots act on stage together. Now, we’ve added a strong focus on robot and AI [artificial intelligence] ethics, and we want to learn more about what teachers and students need from the program as we develop a curriculum to share.”

The grant will enable researchers to add a sharper focus on AI ethics, conduct needs assessments with educators and children, and formalize the curriculum so it can be shared more broadly.

Koeun Choi, associate professor of human development and family science whose expertise in child learning has strengthened earlier iterations of robot theater, will continue her collaboration with Jeon. The team also now includes Qin Zhu, associate professor of engineering education, whose background in ethics and curriculum design will guide the project’s new emphasis on robot and AI ethics. 

“Understanding students’ knowledge about AI, robots, and their literacy in these areas is a key goal,” Zhu said. “We’re also focusing on social and ethical boundaries to ensure students use these technologies responsibly now and in the future.”

Building on success Robot theater has been regularly offered at Eastern Montgomery Elementary School, Virginia Tech’s Child Development Center for Learning and Research, and the Valley Interfaith Child Care Center. In 2022, the project took center stage in the Cube during Ut Prosim Society Weekend with a professional-level performance about climate change awareness that combined robots, live music, and motion tracking.

The after-school program engages children through four creative modules: acting, dance, music and sound, and drawing. Each week includes structured learning and free play, giving students time to explore both creative expression and technical curiosity. Older children sometimes learn simple coding during free play, but the program’s focus remains on embodied learning, like using movement and play to introduce ideas about technology and ethics.

“It’s not a sit-down-and-listen kind of program,” Jeon said. “Kids use gestures and movement — they dance, they act, they draw. And through that, they encounter real ethical questions about robots and AI.”

Acting out the future of AI The grant will allow the team to formalize the program’s foundation through literature reviews, focus groups, and workshops with educators and children. This research will help identify how young learners currently encounter ideas about robotics and AI and where gaps exist in teaching ethical considerations. 

The expanded curriculum will weave in topics such as fairness, privacy, and bias in technology, inviting children to think critically about how robots and AI systems affect people’s lives. These concepts will be introduced not as abstract lessons or coding, but through storytelling, performance, and play. 

“Students might learn about ethics relating to security and privacy during a module where they engage with a robot that tracks their movements while they dance,” Jeon said. “From there, there can be a guided discussion about how information collected from humans is used to train AI and robots.”  

With the new National Science Foundation funding, researchers also plan to expand robot theater into museums and other informal learning environments, offering flexible formats such as one-day workshops and summer sessions. They will make the curriculum and materials openly available on GitHub and other platforms, ensuring educators and researchers nationwide can adapt the program to their own communities.

“This grant lets us expand what we’ve built and make it more robust,” Jeon said. “We can refine the program based on real needs and bring it to more children in more settings.”

 

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Contact: Chelsea Seeber | chelseab29@vt.edu | 540-231-2108

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