Improving Non-Native Speakers’ Participation with an Automatic Agent

Context

At NTT Communication Science Laboratories in Japan, I led a project to facilitate multilingual communication.
I identified a novel design opportunity through in-depth literature review and market research, directly driving the creation of an AI conversational robot, which significantly diverged from previous unsuccessful approaches.
This project increased participation by 40%, sparked interdisciplinary discussions at a major ACM conference and received news coverage for its unique contribution to the field.

Identified a novel design opportunity after an in-depth literature review, directly driving the design of an AI conversational robot.
Collaborated with a cross-functional team to build the robot, increasing participation of Non-Native speakers by 40%.
Designed and led mixed-methods research, including experiments (A/B testing, Qualtrics surveys) and user interviews, to prove the robot’s effectiveness and generate actionable design recommendations.
Published and presented at a major ACM conference, and spoke with reporters about the project for news coverage.

More details about this project.

Increased participation of Non-Native speakers by 40% .
Research insights directly employed to develop a new generation of conversational robot.
Reached wider audience through presentations at a large ACM conference, news coverage, and podcast.

Use technology to facilitate more balanced communication in multilingual groups.
Prove the effectiveness of the technology with quantitative experiments.
Gather user feedback with in-depth, qualitative interviews to inform the design of future platforms.