7,602 research outputs found
Embodied Robot Models for Interdisciplinary Emotion Research
Due to their complex nature, emotions cannot be properly understood from the perspective of a single discipline. In this paper, I discuss how the use of robots as models is beneficial for interdisciplinary emotion research. Addressing this issue through the lens of my own research, I focus on a critical analysis of embodied robots models of different aspects of emotion, relate them to theories in psychology and neuroscience, and provide representative examples. I discuss concrete ways in which embodied robot models can be used to carry out interdisciplinary emotion research, assessing their contributions: as hypothetical models, and as operational models of specific emotional phenomena, of general emotion principles, and of specific emotion ``dimensions''. I conclude by discussing the advantages of using embodied robot models over other models.Peer reviewe
Modelling Adaptation through Social Allostasis: Modulating the Effects of Social Touch with Oxytocin in Embodied Agents
Social allostasis is a mechanism of adaptation that permits individuals to dynamically adapt their physiology to changing physical and social conditions. Oxytocin (OT) is widely considered to be one of the hormones that drives and adapts social behaviours. While its precise effects remain unclear, two areas where OT may promote adaptation are by affecting social salience, and affecting internal responses of performing social behaviours. Working towards a model of dynamic adaptation through social allostasis in simulated embodied agents, and extending our previous work studying OT-inspired modulation of social salience, we present a model and experiments that investigate the effects and adaptive value of allostatic processes based on hormonal (OT) modulation of affective elements of a social behaviour. In particular, we investigate and test the effects and adaptive value of modulating the degree of satisfaction of tactile contact in a social motivation context in a small simulated agent society across different environmental challenges (related to availability of food) and effects of OT modulation of social salience as a motivational incentive. Our results show that the effects of these modulatory mechanisms have different (positive or negative) adaptive value across different groups and under different environmental circumstance in a way that supports the context-dependent nature of OT, put forward by the interactionist approach to OT modulation in biological agents. In terms of simulation models, this means that OT modulation of the mechanisms that we have described should be context-dependent in order to maximise viability of our socially adaptive agents, illustrating the relevance of social allostasis mechanisms.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
On combining the facial movements of a talking head
We present work on Obie, an embodied conversational
agent framework. An embodied conversational agent, or
talking head, consists of three main components. The
graphical part consists of a face model and a facial muscle
model. Besides the graphical part, we have implemented
an emotion model and a mapping from emotions to facial
expressions. The animation part of the framework focuses
on the combination of different facial movements
temporally. In this paper we propose a scheme of
combining facial movements on a 3D talking head
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Simulating emotional reactions in medical dramas
Presenting information on emotionally charged topics is a delicate task: if bare facts alone are conveyed, there is a risk of boring the audience, or coming across as cold and unfeeling; on the other hand, emotional presentation can be appropriate when carefully handled, but when overdone or mishandled risks being perceived as patronising or in poor taste. When Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems present emotionally charged information linguistically, by generating scripts for embodied agents, emotional/affective aspects cannot be ignored. It is important to ensure that viewers consider the presentation appropriate and sympathetic.
We are investigating the role of affect in communicating medical information in the context of an NLG system that generates short medical dramas enacted by embodied agents. The dramas have both an informational and an educational purpose in that they help patients review their medical histories whilst receiving explanations of less familiar medical terms and demonstrations of their usage. The dramas are also personalised since they are generated from the patients' own medical records. We view generation of natural/appropriate emotional language as a way to engage and maintain the viewers' attention. For our medical setting, we hypothesize that viewers will consider dialogues more natural when they have an enthusiastic and sympathetic emotional tone. Our second hypothesis proposes that such dialogues are also better for engaging the viewers' attention.
As well as describing our NLG system for generating natural emotional language in medical dialogue, we present a pilot study with which we investigate our two hypotheses. Our results were not quite as unequivocal as we had hoped. Firstly, our participants did notice whether a character sympathised with the patient and was enthusiastic. This did not, however, lead them to judge such a character as behaving more naturally or the dialogue as being more engaging. However, when pooling data from our two conditions, dialogues with versus dialogues without emotionally appropriate language use, we discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that participants did consider a dialogue more engaging if they believed that the characters showed sympathy towards the patient, were not cold and unfeeling, and were natural (true for the female agent only)
I Probe, Therefore I Am: Designing a Virtual Journalist with Human Emotions
By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language,
gestures or facial expressions, virtually embodied interactive humans hold a
unique potential to bridge the gap between human-computer interaction and
actual interhuman communication. The use of virtual humans is consequently
becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of areas where such a natural
communication might be beneficial, including entertainment, education, mental
health research and beyond. Behind this development lies a series of
technological advances in a multitude of disciplines, most notably natural
language processing, computer vision, and speech synthesis. In this paper we
discuss a Virtual Human Journalist, a project employing a number of novel
solutions from these disciplines with the goal to demonstrate their viability
by producing a humanoid conversational agent capable of naturally eliciting and
reacting to information from a human user. A set of qualitative and
quantitative evaluation sessions demonstrated the technical feasibility of the
system whilst uncovering a number of deficits in its capacity to engage users
in a way that would be perceived as natural and emotionally engaging. We argue
that naturalness should not always be seen as a desirable goal and suggest that
deliberately suppressing the naturalness of virtual human interactions, such as
by altering its personality cues, might in some cases yield more desirable
results.Comment: eNTERFACE16 proceeding
The perception of emotion in artificial agents
Given recent technological developments in robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, it is perhaps unsurprising that the arrival of emotionally expressive and reactive artificial agents is imminent. However, if such agents are to become integrated into our social milieu, it is imperative to establish an understanding of whether and how humans perceive emotion in artificial agents. In this review, we incorporate recent findings from social robotics, virtual reality, psychology, and neuroscience to examine how people recognize and respond to emotions displayed by artificial agents. First, we review how people perceive emotions expressed by an artificial agent, such as facial and bodily expressions and vocal tone. Second, we evaluate the similarities and differences in the consequences of perceived emotions in artificial compared to human agents. Besides accurately recognizing the emotional state of an artificial agent, it is critical to understand how humans respond to those emotions. Does interacting with an angry robot induce the same responses in people as interacting with an angry person? Similarly, does watching a robot rejoice when it wins a game elicit similar feelings of elation in the human observer? Here we provide an overview of the current state of emotion expression and perception in social robotics, as well as a clear articulation of the challenges and guiding principles to be addressed as we move ever closer to truly emotional artificial agents
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