Does Expression of Grounded Affect in a Hexapod Robot Elicit More Prosocial Responses?

We consider how non-humanoid robots can communicate their affective state via bodily forms of communication, and the extent to which this can influence human response. We propose a simple model of grounded affect and kinesic expression and outline two experiments (N=9 and N=180) in which participants were asked to watch expressive and non-expressive hexapod robots perform different ‘scenes’. Our preliminary findings suggest the expressive robot stimulated greater desire for interaction, and was more likely to be attributed with emotion. It also elicited more desire for prosocial behaviour.