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From PETS to StoryRooms 209realized that they were all the same, whether or not they had a star on theirbellies.We wanted to express this story through a StoryRoom. In our adaptation,children became the Sneetches by wearing a special box, which has a starshapedcutout and an embedded microcontroller connected to a lightbulb, ontheir bellies. We then turned our lab into the Sneetches StoryRoom (figure25.2) by placing the Star-On, Star-Off, Narrator, Mr. McBean, and Moneyprops. The Star-On and Star-Off were cardboard boxes with colored paperglued over it. On each, we attached a light bulb and a contact sensor. The Narratorand Mr. McBean were applications that recorded, stored, and replayeddigitally recorded passages from the story. The Money application controlleda projected image of a pile of money, with the Sneetches on one side, and Mr.McBean on the other side. Finally, the boxes on the children’s bellies were theStars that can turn on and off. To help convince the children that the stars madea difference in their social standings, we added a Toy prop, which respondedonly to those with stars on their bellies. In effect, interactions with the Toymade the children feel as if they were the Sneetches.When children initially entered our Sneetches room, the star boxes on someof their bellies lit up, while others did not. Next, the Narrator introduced thestory. These children explored the room and discovered the Toy. They alsonoticed that the Toy lit up only for those who had stars on their bellies, but notfor those who did not.Soon, Mr. McBean introduced himself and told the children about the Star-On machine. When a child without a star on her belly crawled through it, herbelly lit up; she heard Mr. McBean thanking her for the three dollars she “paid”him and the “ka-chink” of a cash register; she sensed the Star-On box lit up asshe passed through it; finally, she saw that some of the Sneetches’ money hadmoved from their pile over to Mr. McBean’s pile. Most importantly, when shewent to the Toy, it lit up for her! This story continued, until all the money hadbeen spent, and concluded with some final words from Mr. McBean and theNarrator.6. ObservationsAt our 1999 Human Computer Interaction Lab Open House, our child designpartners showed PETS to other children. They were eager to type in storiesto see what PETS would do. Indeed, they wrote at least half-dozen short storieswithin half an hour. They also enjoyed changing PETS’ facial features. Onechild even turned PETS into something that could belong in a Picasso painting.We also noticed that children responded to the robot’s “emotions” because itsactions were similar to what they would have done had they felt the same way.