ELLA: Generative AI-Powered Social Robots for Early Language Development at Home

arXiv cs.AI / 3/16/2026

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Key Points

ELLA is an autonomous, generative AI-powered social robot designed to support preschoolers' early language development at home.
The system uses interactive storytelling, parent-selected language targets, and scaffolded dialogue to tailor conversations to individual children.
The researchers followed a multi-phased, human-centered design process with in-home workshops and deployed ELLA with ten children over eight days to gather engagement data and design insights.
The study distills implications for designing generative AI-powered social robots for home-language learning, emphasizing safety, adaptability, and active parental involvement.

Abstract

Early language development shapes children's later literacy and learning, yet many families have limited access to scalable, high-quality support at home. Recent advances in generative AI make it possible for social robots to move beyond scripted interactions and engage children in adaptive, conversational activities, but it remains unclear how to design such systems for pre-schoolers and how children engage with them over time in the home. We present ELLA (Early Language Learning Agent), an autonomous, generative AI-powered social robot that supports early language development through interactive storytelling, parent-selected language targets, and scaffolded dialogue. Using a multi-phased, human-centered process, we interviewed parents (n=7) and educators (n=5) and iteratively refined ELLA through twelve in-home design workshops. We then deployed ELLA with ten children for eight days. We report design insights from in-home workshops, characterize children's engagement and behaviors during deployment, and distill design implications for generative AI-powered social robots supporting early language learning at home.