YourBestFriendPepper

Study and Research Project (TER) – Master 1 Computer Science – HAI823I – 2024‑2025 University of Montpellier Developed by Hadil Ladj (MSc Software Engineering) — Supervised by Prof. Madalina Croitoru

YourBestFriendPepper is an Android application designed for the Pepper humanoid robot (SoftBank Robotics). The app offers children aged 3 to 6 an interactive journey to identify, express, and understand emotions through storytelling, tactile interactions, and an AI‑powered open dialogue.

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Target Audience

• Age Range: 3 – 6 years
• Settings: kindergartens, educational workshops, child–robot mediation

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Educational Goals

Goal	Description
Emotion recognition	Link each basic emotion to a colour (The Colour Monster story).
Oral expression	Encourage children to verbalise and ask questions to the robot.
Multimodal engagement	Combine oral narration and tactile feedback to reinforce learning.

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🔍 Research Question

“How does a speech-touch bimodal interaction with the Pepper humanoid robot affect emotion-recognition and verbalization in preschoolers (3–6 years)?”

This question guides the experimental study described in the TER report. The present README focuses on the software implementation.

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User Flow

1. Welcome Screen: illustration + Start button.

2. Main Menu: four features — Listen to a story • Emotion interaction • Talk with Pepper (ChatGPT) • Comprehension quiz.

3. Stories:

   • Pepper’s self‑introduction;
   • The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas;
   • Mammoth Helmouth’s Furry Wig by Val Reiyel.

4. Emotion Interaction: child picks an emotion (joy, sadness, anger, fear) → Pepper plays an animation and waits for touch sensors. A Bye‑bye button ends the session.

5. Free Dialogue: Pepper, powered by the ChatGPT API, answers children’s questions in his own persona.

6. Quiz: multiple‑choice questions to validate understanding of the story and emotions.

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🛠️ Technology Stack

Technology	Purpose
Android Studio Bumblebee 2021.1.1 Patch 1	Development & deployment on Pepper
QiSDK	Access to Pepper’s voice, motion, and tactile sensors (robot running NAOqi 2.9)
Kotlin	Main language (fragment‑based architecture)
Room / SQLite	Local persistence (quiz answers, logs)
OpenAI API	AI‑generated responses (ChatGPT)

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⚡ Setup & Requirements

1. OpenAI API Key: add your key in src/main/java/com/example/pepperapp/ui/Fragments/ChatFragment.kt at line 54.

2. Start Pepper: press the button under the screen once to boot.

3. Network: connect Pepper and your laptop to the same Wi‑Fi or mobile hotspot.

4. ADB Connection: pull down Pepper’s notification bar to get the IP address, then:

   adb connect <PEPPER_IP>:5555

5. Android Studio:

   • Open the project with Android Studio Bumblebee.

   • Verify Pepper appears as a connected device.

   • If not:

     adb kill-server
     adb start-server
     adb connect <PEPPER_IP>:5555

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▶️ Run the App

1. Configure the OpenAI API key.
2. Boot Pepper.
3. Establish ADB connection.
4. In Android Studio, select Pepper and press ▶️ to install and launch the app.

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Code Structure

app/
 ├─ ui/
 │   ├─ MainActivity.kt       
 │   └─ Fragments/
 │       ├─ HappyFragment.kt  # joy
 │       ├─ SadFragment.kt    # sadness
 │       └─ …
 ├─ data/                     # Room database (quiz, logs)
 └─ assets/animations/        # .qianim animation files

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“Pepper isn’t just a robot — he’s children’s best friend!” 🤖💛