Reconfigurable modular robots (RMRobots) can change their shape and functionality (e.g., locomotion styles) to fit different environments, and have been widely investigated in applications, such as exploration and inspection. In this paper, we present a new application of RMRobots for improving human spatial ability which plays a significant role in developing an individual’s performance and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Two user studies are conducted, and the results show that: 1) the task performance of interacting with RMRobots has a significant positive relationship with mental rotation, a widely used measure of spatial ability; and 2) interacting with RMRobots can effectively improve the performance on a task related to spatial reasoning skills according to behavioral data and electroencephalograph (EEG) indices. Our presented study broadens RMRobot research in the area of human-robot interaction.

中文翻译：

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与可重构模块化机器人的交互增强空间推理性能

可重构模块化机器人 (RMRo​​bots) 可以改变它们的形状和功能（例如，运动方式）以适应不同的环境，并且在探索和检查等应用中得到了广泛的研究。在本文中，我们提出了 RMRobots 用于提高人类空间能力的新应用，它在发展个人在科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 方面的表现和成就方面发挥着重要作用。进行了两项用户研究，结果表明：1) 与 RMRobots 交互的任务表现与心理旋转有显着的正相关，心理旋转是一种广泛使用的空间能力衡量标准；2) 根据行为数据和脑电图 (EEG) 指标，与 RMRobots 交互可以有效提高与空间推理技能相关的任务的性能。我们提出的研究拓宽了 RMRobot 在人机交互领域的研究。