Expression of Grounded Affect: How Much Emotion Can Arousal Convey?

In this paper we consider how non-humanoid robots can communicate their affective state via bodily forms of communication (kinesics), and the extent to which this influences how humans respond to them. We propose a simple model of grounded affect and kinesic expression before presenting the qualitative findings of an exploratory study (N=9), during which participants were interviewed after watching expressive and non-expressive hexapod robots perform different ‘scenes’. A summary of these interviews is presented and a number of emerging themes are identified and discussed. Whilst our findings suggest that the expressive robot did not evoke significantly greater empathy or altruistic intent in humans than the control robot, the expressive robot stimulated greater desire for interaction and was also more likely to be attributed with emotion.