Using Perlin Noise to Generate Emotional Expressions in a Robot

The development of social robots that convey emotion with their bodies---instead of or in conjunction with their faces---is an increasingly active research topic in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI). Rather than focusing either on postural or on dynamics aspects of bodily expression in isolation, we present a model and an empirical study where we combine both elements and produce expressive behaviors by adding dynamic elements (in the form of Perlin noise) to a subset of static postures prototypical of basic emotions, with the aim of creating expressions easily understandable by children and at the same time lively and flexible enough to be believable and engaging. Results show that the noise increases the recognition rate of the emotions portrayed by the robot.