Lucia Campitiello

This project presents the development of a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system applied to the customization of a Non-Playable Character (NPC), designed as the Non-Playable Character (NPC) of the President of the IDIS Foundation Città della Scienza (City of Science). The NPC acts as both a virtual guide and institutional ambassador within the science center, providing multilingual, interactive, and accessible communication for a broad international audience. Through the integration of generative models with a curated, validated knowledge base, the RAG system enables the NPC to provide accurate, context-sensitive, and up-to-date responses to user queries. Developed by the Teaching Learning Centre for Education and Inclusive Technologies ‘Elisa Frauenfelder’ at the University of Salerno, the system supports the museum’s educational mission by enhancing science communication and fostering inclusive digital engagement. The Non-Playable Character (NPC) features realistic facial animation, movement, and voice synthesis, creating a digital twin capable of simulating human-like interaction. This initiative exemplifies an innovative application of artificial intelligence for an inclusive and equitable quality education and contributes to the development of engaging, accessible, and personalized learning environments.

This project presents the development of a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system applied to the customization of a Non-Player Character (NPC), designed as the digital avatar of the President of the IDIS Foundation Città della Scienza (City of Sci-ence). The NPC acts as both a virtual guide and institutional ambassador within the science center, offering multilingual, interactive, and accessible communication to a broad international audience. Through the integration of generative models with a curated, validated knowledge base, the RAG system enables the NPC to provide accu-rate, context-sensitive, and up-to-date responses to user queries. Developed by the Teaching Learning Centre for Education and Inclusive Technologies ‘Elisa Frauenfeld-er’ at the University of Salerno, the system supports the museum’s educational mission by enhancing science communication and fostering inclusive digital engagement. The avatar features realistic facial animation, movement, and voice synthesis, creating a digital twin capable of simulating human-like interaction. This initiative exemplifies an innovative application of artificial intelligence for an inclusive and equitable qual-ity education and contributes to the development of engaging, accessible, and person-alized learning environments.

This paper explores the intersection of folk art, museums, and education in the 20th century, with a focus on the concept of art as experience, emphasizing the role of museums as active, inclusive learning spaces. A collaboration between the University of Salerno and the University of Nicosia has developed virtual museum environments using virtual reality (VR) to enhance engagement with cultural heritage. These projects aim to make museums more accessible and interactive, with future potential in integrating artificial intelligence NPC and VR strategies for personalized visitor experiences of the Nicosia Folk Art Museum.

Museum education involves using a museum’s resources and collections to facilitate learning for diverse audiences. It includes activities like tours, workshops, and interactive exhibits that promote active, inquiry-based learning. Focused on accessibility and inclusivity, museum education aims to engage visitors, enhance their understanding, and foster a deeper appreciation for cultural, historical, or scientific content to foster active citizenship and lifelong learning in a non-formal learning context. Museum education uses collections and exhibits to engage audiences through hands-on, inquiry-based learning. By integrating digital tools and interactive technologies, it enhances learning through immersive and distance-based experiences. This approach promotes active engagement, critical thinking, and meaning-making, transforming traditional teaching methods. Museums serve as inclusive spaces where knowledge—embodied in artifacts and digital mediators—supports cognitive, emotional, and social development, fostering deeper connections with culture and history.

Technology has always represented the key to human progress. It is believed that the use of supportive technological mediators can facilitate teaching/learning processes and enable everyone to learn how to critically manage technology without being its slave or passive user while contributing to the collective well-being. Educational robotics is a new frontier for learning that can offer numerous benefits to students. The use of robots can offer the possibility of creating inclusive educational settings in which all students, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can participate meaningfully. The article proposes an analysis of the evidence obtained from a systematic literature review with reference to general educational robotics and social robotics for emotion recognition. Finally, as a practical implementation of an educational robotic intervention on emotion recognition, the “Emorobot Project” as part of the EU-funded “Ecosystem of Innovation—Technopole of Rome” Project in NextGenerationEU will be presented. The project’s aim is to foster the development of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders through the creation of an open-source social robot that can recognize emotions. The project is intended to provide teachers with a supportive tool that allows them to design individual activities and later extend the activity to classmates. An educational robot can be used as a social mediator, a playmate during the learning phase that can help students develop social skills, build peer connection, reduce social isolation—one of the main difficulties of this disorder—and foster motivation and the acquisition of interpersonal skills through interaction and imitation. This can help ensure that all students have access to quality education and that no one is left behind.

Rcensione a Metaverso e Realtà dell’Educazione, a cura di Salvatore Colazzo e Roberto Maragliano, Studium Edizioni, 2022.