Can a robot tutor give too much help? Why timing matters

A learner stands in a room with a bottle, a cup and a book.

The task is to figure out, step by step, where each object belongs in the room.

Under the table?

Or perhaps on the chair?

A humanoid robot gives the instructions—but in Swahili, a language the learner does not know.

To solve the puzzle, the learner must gradually decipher what the robot is saying. ...