Accessible and Pedagogically-Grounded Explainability for Human-Robot Interaction: A Framework Based on UDL and Symbolic Interfaces

TL;DR

The paper tackles the challenge of making robot explainability accessible to users with diverse cognitive and communicative needs. It proposes a framework that combines AXAI concepts with Universal Design for Learning, using ARASAAC pictograms and the Asterics Grid interface, connected to ROS 2 for real-time explanations. A five-stage, modular architecture enables bidirectional, multimodal explanations and mutual model alignment, with consideration for human mediators in educational and assistive contexts. The work offers a practical, extensible approach suitable for inclusive education, assistive robotics, and inclusive AI deployment in varied settings.

Abstract

This paper presents a novel framework for accessible and pedagogically-grounded robot explainability, designed to support human-robot interaction (HRI) with users who have diverse cognitive, communicative, or learning needs. We combine principles from Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Universal Design (UD) with symbolic communication strategies to facilitate the alignment of mental models between humans and robots. Our approach employs Asterics Grid and ARASAAC pictograms as a multimodal, interpretable front-end, integrated with a lightweight HTTP-to-ROS 2 bridge that enables real-time interaction and explanation triggering. We emphasize that explainability is not a one-way function but a bidirectional process, where human understanding and robot transparency must co-evolve. We further argue that in educational or assistive contexts, the role of a human mediator (e.g., a teacher) may be essential to support shared understanding. We validate our framework with examples of multimodal explanation boards and discuss how it can be extended to different scenarios in education, assistive robotics, and inclusive AI.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Interaction flow highlighting the Perceptual Belief Problem.
• Figure 2: Prototype of a robot explanation interface using ARASAAC pictograms within Asterics Grid.
• Figure 3: Architecture of the accessible explanation framework connecting Asterics Grid with a ROS 2-based robot.
• Figure 4: Example 1: User-oriented explanation support and interaction prompts.
• Figure 5: Example 2: Robot-initiated explanation for obstacle avoidance in Spanish.