EmotoTent: Reducing School Violence through Embodied Empathy Games

EmotoTent is an interactive socio-emotional learning system developed in response to escalating levels of violence, inequality and marginalization in schools seen in the early 21st Century. The system is inspired by advances in biosensing wearables, tattoo displays, brain sensors, robotic agents, artificial intelligence (AI), gestural interaction and 3D holographic displays. By 2030, technological advances will enable us to prototype and investigate questions related to experiential and embodied emotional learning; emotion-based human-computer interaction, affective biosensing, empathetic AI agents, and 3D interactive holographic environments. We envision EmotoTent as a modular, emotion-sensing Holodeck. In the EmotoTent program children learn and practice emotion regulation and empathy with peers, pets and a robotic dog agent in ways that are experiential, embodied and playful. We propose EmotoTent as a core element of a K-6 socio-emotional learning curriculum designed to improve school culture through the enhancement of children's ability to regulate emotions and interact with human and non-human species with empathy and compassion. Enhancing these qualities has been shown to lead to reductions in violence and bullying, racism, gender inequality and other forms of marginalization. We predict that the EmotoTent socio-emotional learning program will improve school cultures and create a foundation for children's lifelong well-being.