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Conversation Fillers (CFs), such as `um', `hmm', and `ah', may help to improve the human-robot interaction by smoothening the robot's responses. This paper presents the design and test of such CFs - alongside iconic pensive or acknowledging gestures - for Wizard of Oz (WoZ) controlled open-ended dialogues in child-robot interactions. A controlled experiment with 26 children showed that these CFs can improve the perceived speediness, aliveness, humanness, and likability of the robot, without decreasing perceptions of intelligence, trustworthiness, or autonomy.

A field study was conducted in which CRI activities developed by the ALIZ-E project were tested with the project’s primary user group: children with diabetes. This field study resulted in new insights in the modalities and roles a robot aimed at CRI in a healthcare setting might utilise, while in addition (re-)assessed some practises and technologies established within the project. Furthermore, it served as a means of strengthening the bonds with the project’s principal stakeholders. The study illustrates on the one hand the feasibility of the activities that were developed within the project, while on the other hand highlights the importance of engaging with primary users in an ongoing, incremental fashion.