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Return of the Jibo: Generative AI & Social Robots for Virtual Production Education
D. Pillis, MIT, USA
This paper explores the integration of Jibo, a social robot, with generative AI in film-making education. Deployed in college classrooms, Jibo supported creative workflows by helping students write scripts, storyboard, and act in AI-enhanced films.
The study documents increased student engagement, emotional bonding, and reduced anxiety, suggesting social robots can enhance AI-assisted learning in creative disciplines.
Storytelling Robots
I collected public domain 2D animations comprising a geneology of CGI from 1963 to 1987, and used fragments of the animations to create a 3D environment for storytelling.
Ed Catmull’s 3D hand and Fred Parke’s 3D face were re-created in contemporary 3D software, and re-animated in an interactive 3D narrative environment.
Human Robot Interaction
Users explored a chronology of CGI history by retargeting their hand gestures via a Leap Motion Controller onto Catmulls’ “hand”.
The dialogue of the story was told by two bookended iMac G3 monitors, each animated by Parke’s faces, re-animated with the original Apple text-to-speech engine, “MacinTalk”.
A Spatial Narrative on Hardware
Using media artifacts with contemporary technology, the story of “The Machine Stops” was told through the medium of media archaeology.
Human Robot Interaction
Full Paper
At the 2025 MIT AI and Education Conference, I presented research on integrating Jibo, a social robot, with generative AI in film-making education. The project examined how Jibo supported students in writing, storyboarding, and performing in AI-assisted films, highlighting new possibilities for creativity and collaboration in the classroom.
