ActionaBot: Structuring Metacognitive Conversations towards In-Situ Awareness in How-To Instruction Following

DOI

People often rely on shared procedures and tips to handle unfamiliar tasks, but following tutorials can be challenging. Individuals may skip steps, alter actions, or miss information, leading to mistakes or task failure. Tutorials are often based on personal experiences and may omit important details, which vary with context. Furthermore, when others attempt to follow these tutorials, differing situations can make it hard to follow the steps or track progress. Inspired by how coworkers discuss work status and work approach in-situ through metacognitive conversations, we propose Action-a-bot, a chatbot framework that transforms static tutorials into interactive, structural, step-by-step guidance. Action-a-bot drives users to focus on each step, review what they’ve completed, and anticipate the next steps, while adapting actions and solving problems. Our study explores how human-chatbot interaction can improve task completion and make tutorials more actionable by increasing user engagement and awareness of the work situation. We discuss the potential of chatbots in supporting instructional communication and task execution.