%0 Conference Paper %B UKRAS20 Conference: "Robots into the real world" Proceedings %D 2020 %T Does Expression of Grounded Affect in a Hexapod Robot Elicit More Prosocial Responses? %A Hickton, Luke %A Lewis, Matthew %A Kheng Lee Koay %A Lola Cañamero %X 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. %B UKRAS20 Conference: "Robots into the real world" Proceedings %C Lincoln, UK %P 40–42 %8 04/2020 %G eng %U https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/22817/UKRAS20_paper_09.pdf %R 10.31256/Hz3Ww4T %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 21st Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems Conference (TAROS2020) %D 2020 %T Expression of Grounded Affect: How Much Emotion Can Arousal Convey? %A Hickton, Luke %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %E Abdelkhilick Mohammad %E Xin Dong %E Matteo Russo %X 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. %B Proc. 21st Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems Conference (TAROS2020) %S Lecture Notes in Computer Science %I Springer %C Nottingham, UK %V 12228 %P 234–248 %8 09/2020 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-63486-5_26 %R 10.1007/978-3-030-63486-5_26 %0 Conference Paper %B Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2020 (ALIFE 2020) %D 2020 %T Modelling the Social Buffering Hypothesis in an Artificial Life Environment %A Imran Khan %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %E Josh Bongard %E Juniper Lovato %E Laurent Hebert-Dufrésne %E Radhakrishna Dasari %E Lisa Soros %X In social species, individuals who form social bonds have been found to live longer, healthier lives. One hypothesised reason for this effect is that social support, mediated by oxytocin, "buffers" responses to stress in a number of ways, and is considered an important process of adaptation that facilitates long-term wellbeing in changing, stressful conditions. Using an artificial life model, we have investigated the role of one hypothesised stress-reducing effect of social support on the survival and social interactions of agents in a small society. We have investigated this effect using different types of social bonds and bond partner combinations across environmentally-challenging conditions. Our results have found that stress reduction through social support benefits the survival of agents with social bonds, and that this effect often extends to the wider society. We have also found that this effect is significantly affected by environmental and social contexts. Our findings suggest that these "social buffering" effects may not be universal, but dependent upon the degree of environmental challenges, the quality of affective relationships and the wider social context. %B Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2020 (ALIFE 2020) %I MIT Press %C Montreal, Canada %P 393–401 %8 07/2020 %G eng %U https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/isal_a_00302 %R 10.1162/isal_a_00302 %0 Conference Paper %B ACII2019 Workshop on Social Emotions, Theories and Models (SE-THEMO) %D 2019 %T The Effects of Affective Social Bonds on the Interactions and Survival of Simulated Agents %A Imran Khan %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X The formation and maintenance of affective social bonds plays a key role in the well-being of social agents. Oxytocin has been correlated with social partner preference, and it is hypothesised to influence prosocial behaviours. In this paper, we investigate the effects of modulating the preference of affective social bond partners through oxytocin during decisions related to food-sharing and grooming, in a society of simulated agents with different dominance ranks. Our results show survival benefits for agents with affective social bonds across a number of groups with different bond combinations. We observe a number of emergent social behaviours and suggest that our results bear some similarity with behaviors observed in biological agents. %B ACII2019 Workshop on Social Emotions, Theories and Models (SE-THEMO) %C Cambridge, UK %P 374–380 %8 09/2019 %G eng %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8925031 %R 10.1109/ACIIW.2019.8925031 %0 Journal Article %J Computational Psychiatry %D 2019 %T A Robot Model of OC-Spectrum Disorders: Design Framework, Implementation and First Experiments %A Lewis, Matthew %A Naomi Fineberg %A Lola Cañamero %X Computational psychiatry is increasingly establishing itself as valuable discipline for understanding human mental disorders. However, robot models and their potential for investigating embodied and contextual aspects of mental health have been, to date, largely unexplored. In this paper, we present an initial robot model of obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum disorders based on an embodied motivation-based control architecture for decision making in autonomous robots. The OC family of conditions is chiefly characterized by obsessions (recurrent, invasive thoughts) and/or compulsions (an urge to carry out certain repetitive or ritualized behaviors). The design of our robot model follows and illustrates a general design framework that we have proposed to ground research in robot models of mental disorders, and to link it with existing methodologies in psychiatry, and notably in the design of animal models. To test and validate our model, we present and discuss initial experiments, results, and quantitative and qualitative analysis regarding the compulsive and obsessive elements of OC-spectrum disorders. While this initial stage of development only models basic elements of such disorders, our results already shed light on aspects of the underlying theoretical model that are not obvious simply from consideration of the model. %B Computational Psychiatry %I MIT Press %V 3 %P 40–75 %G eng %U https://cpsyjournal.org/article/10.1162/CPSY_a_00025/ %R 10.1162/cpsy_a_00025 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 8th International Conference on Affective Computing & Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2019) %D 2019 %T A Robot Model of Stress-Induced Compulsive Behavior %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Stress is one of the potential mechanisms underlying compulsive behavior in obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. In this paper, we present a robot model and experiments investigating the interactions between internally- and externally-induced stress and compulsive behavior. Our results show properties of the model with potential implications for understanding how stress can result in the generation and maintenance of compulsive behaviors, and how response-prevention interventions can affect compulsive responses under different conditions. %B Proc. 8th International Conference on Affective Computing & Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2019) %I IEEE %C Cambridge, United Kingdom %P 559–565 %8 09/2019 %G eng %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8925511 %R 10.1109/ACII.2019.8925511 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 2nd Symposium on Social Interactions in Complex Intelligent Systems (SICIS) %D 2018 %T Adaptation and the Social Salience Hypothesis of Oxytocin: Early Experiments in a Simulated Agent Environment %A Imran Khan %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Allostasis is a mechanism that permits adaptation of an organism as a response to changing (physical or social) environmental conditions. Allostasis is driven by a number of factors, including regulation through hormonal mechanisms. Oxytocin (OT) is a hormone that has been found to play a role in regulating social behaviours and adaptation. However, the concrete effects that OT promotes remain unclear and controversial. One of these effects is on the attention paid to social cues (social salience). Two opposing hypotheses have been proposed. One hypothesis is that adaptation is achieved by increasing attention to social cues (increasing social salience), the other that adaptation is achieved by decreasing attention to social cues (decreasing social salience). In this paper, we present agent simulation experiments that test these two contrasting hypotheses under different environmental conditions related to food availability: a comfortable environment, a challenging environment, and a very challenging environment. Our results show that, for the particular conditions modelled, increased social salience through the release of simulated oxytocin presents significant advantages in the challenging conditions. %B Proc. 2nd Symposium on Social Interactions in Complex Intelligent Systems (SICIS) %S Proc. 2018 Convention of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB 2018) %C Liverpool, UK %P 2–9 %8 04/2018 %G eng %U http://aisb2018.csc.liv.ac.uk/PROCEEDINGS%20AISB2018/Social%20Interactions%20in%20Complex%20Intelligent%20Systems%20(SICIS)%20-%20AISB2018.pdf %0 Journal Article %J IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems %D 2018 %T A Hormone-Driven Epigenetic Mechanism for Adaptation in Autonomous Robots %A Lones, John %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Different epigenetic mechanisms provide biological organisms with the ability to adjust their physiology and/or morphology and adapt to a wide range of challenges posed by their environments. In particular, one type of epigenetic process, in which hormone concentrations are linked to the regulation of hormone receptors, has been shown to have implications for behavioral development. In this paper, taking inspiration from these biological processes, we investigate whether an epigenetic model based on the concept of hormonal regulation of receptors can provide a similarly robust and general adaptive mechanism for autonomous robots. We have implemented our model using a Koala robot, and tested it in a series of experiments in six different environments with varying challenges to negotiate. Our results, including the emergence of varied behaviors that permit the robot to exploit its current environment, demonstrate the potential of our epigenetic model as a general mechanism for adaptation in autonomous robots. %B IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems %I IEEE %V 10 %P 445–454 %G eng %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8115310/ %N 2 %R 10.1109/TCDS.2017.2775620 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. UK-RAS Conference: 'Robots Working For & Among Us', 2017 %D 2018 %T Robin: An Autonomous Robot for Diabetic Children %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X We describe the cognitively and motivationally autonomous robot toddler Robin, designed as a tool to help children learn about diabetes management. The design of Robin follows an Embodied Artificial Intelligence approach to robotics, to create a robust social interaction agent, friendly but independent. We have used Robin in autonomous interactions with diabetic children in a scenario designed to give them mastery experiences of diabetes management in order to increase their self-efficacy. %B Proc. UK-RAS Conference: 'Robots Working For & Among Us', 2017 %C Bristol, UK %P 13–15 %G eng %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. UK-RAS Conference: 'Robots Working For & Among Us', 2017 %D 2018 %T Using Robots to Model Mental Disorders %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X We are currently at a point where the use of robots to model human mental disorders is possible, and this capability will only increase. By considering the lessons learned from animal models, we argue that robot models of human mental disorders can complement existing approaches in mental health research. %B Proc. UK-RAS Conference: 'Robots Working For & Among Us', 2017 %C Bristol, UK %P 121–123 %G eng %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems 18th Annual Conference, TAROS 2017 %D 2017 %T A Flexible Component-Based Robot Control Architecture for Hormonal Modulation of Behaviour and Affect %A Hickton, Luke %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %E Gao, Yang %E Fallah, Saber %E Jin, Yaochu %E Lekakou, Constantina %X In this paper we present the foundations of an architecture that will support the wider context of our work, which is to explore the link between affect, perception and behaviour from an embodied perspective and assess their relevance to Human Robot Interaction (HRI). Our approach builds upon existing affect-based architectures by combining artificial hormones with discrete abstract components that are designed with the explicit consideration of influencing, and being receptive to, the wider affective state of the robot. %B Proc. Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems 18th Annual Conference, TAROS 2017 %S LNCS %I Springer International %C Guildford, UK %V 10454 %P 464–474 %8 07/2017 %@ 978-3-319-64106-5 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-64107-2_36 %R 10.1007/978-3-319-64107-2_36 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 7th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, Workshops and Demos (ACIIW 2017) %D 2017 %T Robot Models of Mental Disorders %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Alongside technological tools to support wellbeing and treatment of mental disorders, models of these disorders can also be invaluable tools to understand, support and improve these conditions. Robots can provide ecologically valid models that take into account embodiment-, interaction-, and context-related elements. Focusing on Obsessive-Compulsive spectrum disorders, in this paper we discuss some of the potential contributions of robot models and relate them to other models used in psychology and psychiatry, particularly animal models. We also present some initial recommendations for their meaningful design and rigorous use. %B Proc. 7th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, Workshops and Demos (ACIIW 2017) %I IEEE %C San Antonio, TX %P 193–200 %8 10/2017 %@ 978-1-5386-0680-3 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8272613/ %R 10.1109/ACIIW.2017.8272613 %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in Robotics and AI %D 2016 %T From Sensorimotor Experiences to Cognitive Development: Investigating the Influence of Experiential Diversity on the Development of an Epigenetic Robot %A Lones, John %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Using an epigenetic model, in this paper we investigate the importance of sensorimotor experiences and environmental conditions in the emergence of more advanced cognitive abilities in an autonomous robot. We let the robot develop in three environments affording very different (physical and social) sensorimotor experiences: a "normal", standard environment, with reasonable opportunities for stimulation, a "novel" environment that offers many novel experiences, and a "sensory deprived" environment where the robot has very few and over-simplistic chances to interact. We then: (a) assess how these different experiences influence and change the robot's ongoing development and behavior; (b) compare the said development to the different sensorimotor stages that infants go through and (c) finally after each "baby" robot has had time to develop in its environment, we recreate and asses its cognitive abilities using different well-known tests used with human infants such as violation of expectation (VOE) paradigm. Although our model was not explicitly designed following Piaget's, or any other sensorimotor developmental theory, we observed, and discuss in the paper, that relevant sensorimotor experiences, or the lack of, result in the robot going through unplanned development "stages" bearing some similarities to infant development, and could be interpreted in terms of Piaget's theory. %B Frontiers in Robotics and AI %I Frontiers %V 3 %8 08/2016 %G eng %U http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2016.00044 %R 10.3389/frobt.2016.00044 %0 Journal Article %J Adaptive Behavior %D 2016 %T Hedonic quality or reward? A study of basic pleasure in homeostasis and decision making of a motivated autonomous robot %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X We present a robot architecture and experiments to investigate some of the roles that pleasure plays in the decision making (action selection) process of an autonomous robot that must survive in its environment. We have conducted three sets of experiments to assess the effect of different types of pleasure—related versus unrelated to the satisfaction of physiological needs—under different environmental circumstances. Our results indicate that pleasure, including pleasure unrelated to need satisfaction, has value for homeostatic management in terms of improved viability and increased flexibility in adaptive behavior. %B Adaptive Behavior %I SAGE %V 24 %P 267–291 %G eng %U http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1059712316666331 %N 5 %R 10.1177/1059712316666331 %0 Journal Article %J International Journal of Social Robotics %D 2016 %T Making New "New AI" Friends: Designing a Social Robot for Diabetic Children from an Embodied AI Perspective %A Lola Cañamero %A Lewis, Matthew %X Robin is a cognitively and motivationally autonomous affective robot toddler with "robot diabetes" that we have developed to support perceived self-efficacy and emotional wellbeing in children with diabetes. Robin provides children with positive mastery experiences of diabetes management in a playful but realistic and natural interaction context. Underlying the design of Robin is an "Embodied" (formerly also known as "New") Artificial Intelligence (AI) approach to robotics. In this paper we discuss the rationale behind the design of Robin to meet the needs of our intended end users (both children and medical staff), and how "New AI" provides a suitable approach to developing a friendly companion that fulfills the therapeutic and affective requirements of our end users beyond other approaches commonly used in assistive robotics and child–robot interaction. Finally, we discuss how our approach permitted our robot to interact with and provide suitable experiences of diabetes management to children with very different social interaction styles. %B International Journal of Social Robotics %I Springer %V 8 %P 523–537 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12369-016-0364-9 %N 4 %R 10.1007/s12369-016-0364-9 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 7th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR-2015) %D 2015 %T An Embodied AI Approach to Individual Differences: Supporting Self-Efficacy in Diabetic Children with an Autonomous Robot %A Lewis, Matthew %A Oleari, Elettra %A Pozzi, Clara %A Lola Cañamero %E Tapus, Adriana %E André, Elisabeth %E Martin, Jean-Claude %E Ferland, François %E Ammi, Mehdi %X In this paper we discuss how a motivationally autonomous robot, designed using the principles of embodied AI, provides a suitable approach to address individual differences of children interacting with a robot, without having to explicitly modify the system. We do this in the context of two pilot studies using Robin, a robot to support self-confidence in diabetic children. %B Proc. 7th International Conference on Social Robotics (ICSR-2015) %S Lecture Notes in Computer Science %I Springer International Publishing %C Paris %P 401–410 %@ 978-3-319-25553-8 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-25554-5_40 %R 10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5_40 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. New Friends 2015 %D 2015 %T Let’s Be Friends: Perception of a Social Robotic Companion for children with T1DM %A Kruijff-Korbayová, Ivana %A Oleari, Elettra %A Pozzi, Clara %A Sacchitelli, Francesca %A Bagherzadhalimi, Anahita %A Bellini, Sara %A Kiefer, Bernd %A Racioppa, Stefania %A Coninx, Alexandre %A Paul E. Baxter %A Bierman, Bert %A Henkemans, Olivier Blanson %A Mark A. Neerincx %A Rosemarijn Looije %A Yiannis Demiris %A Espinoza, Raquel Ros %A Mosconi, Marco %A Cosi, Piero %A Remi Humbert %A Lola Cañamero %A Hichem Sahli %A Joachim de Greeff %A James Kennedy %A Robin Read %A Lewis, Matthew %A Antoine Hiolle %A Giulio Paci %A Sommavilla, Giacomo %A Tesser, Fabio %A Athanasopoulos, Georgios %A Patsis, Georgios %A Verhelst, Werner %A Alberto Sanna %A Tony Belpaeme %X We describe the social characteristics of a robot developed to support children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) in the process of education and care. We evaluated the perception of the robot at a summer camp where diabetic children aged 10-14 experienced the robot in group interactions. Children in the intervention condition additionally interacted with it also individually, in one-to-one sessions featuring several game-like activities. These children perceived the robot significantly more as a friend than those in the control group. They also readily engaged with it in dialogues about their habits related to healthy lifestyle as well as personal experiences concerning diabetes. This indicates that the one-on-one interactions added a special quality to the relationship of the children with the robot. %B Proc. New Friends 2015 %C Almere, The Netherlands %P 32–33 %8 10/2015 %G eng %U https://mheerink.home.xs4all.nl/pdf/ProceedingsNF2015-3.pdf %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 23rd Annual IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2014) %D 2014 %T An Affective Autonomous Robot Toddler to Support the Development of Self-Efficacy in Diabetic Children %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X We present a software architecture and an interaction scenario for an autonomous robot toddler designed to support the development of self-efficacy in diabetic children, and discuss its potential medical benefits. We pay particular attention to the affective and social aspects of the interaction, as well as the importance of autonomy in the robot, examining their relationships to our scientific and therapeutic goals. %B Proc. 23rd Annual IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2014) %I IEEE %C Edinburgh %P 359–364 %8 08/2014 %@ 978-1-4799-6763-6 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6926279/ %R 10.1109/ROMAN.2014.6926279 %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in Neurorobotics %D 2014 %T Arousal Regulation and Affective Adaptation to Human Responsiveness by a Robot that Explores and Learns a Novel Environment %A Antoine Hiolle %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X In the context of our work in developmental robotics regarding robot-human caregiver interactions, in this paper we investigate how a "baby" robot that explores and learns novel environments can adapt its affective regulatory behavior of soliciting help from a "caregiver" to the preferences shown by the caregiver in terms of varying responsiveness. We build on two strands of previous work that assessed independently (a) the differences between two "idealized" robot profiles – a "needy" and an "independent" robot – in terms of their use of a caregiver as a means to regulate the "stress" (arousal) produced by the exploration and learning of a novel environment, and (b) the effects on the robot behaviors of two caregiving profiles varying in their responsiveness – "responsive" and "non-responsive" – to the regulatory requests of the robot. Going beyond previous work, in this paper we (a) assess the effects that the varying regulatory behavior of the two robot profiles has on the exploratory and learning patterns of the robots; (b) bring together the two strands previously investigated in isolation and take a step further by endowing the robot with the capability to adapt its regulatory behavior along the "needy" and "independent" axis as a function of the varying responsiveness of the caregiver; and (c) analyze the effects that the varying regulatory behavior has on the exploratory and learning patterns of the adaptive robot. %B Frontiers in Neurorobotics %V 8 %P 17 %G eng %U http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbot.2014.00017 %R 10.3389/fnbot.2014.00017 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %D 2014 %T Hormonal Modulation of Development and Behaviour Permits a Robot to Adapt to Novel Interactions %A Lones, John %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Hormones are known to play a critical role in modulating the behaviour and development of organisms when confronted with different environment challenges. In this paper we present a biologically plausible hormonal mechanism that allows an autonomous robot to interact appropriately with novel objects and interactions depending upon both its current internal state and its past experiences. In our experiments, robots that had been exposed to negative experiences during their initial developmental phase displayed withdrawn behaviour and were less likely to explore new objects and environments, or to engage with a human caregiver. In contrast, robots with a positive upbringing showed much greater levels of outgoing behaviour such as exploration and social interaction. %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %I MIT Press %C New York, NY %P 184–191 %@ 978-0-262-32621-6 %G eng %U https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/978-0-262-32621-6-ch031 %R 10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch031 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 4th Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-Epirob 2014) %D 2014 %T Hormonal Modulation of Interaction Between Autonomous Agents %A Lones, John %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Epigenetic like mechanism potentially have a critical role to play in the long term modulation of behaviour, interaction and adaptation. In this study we implement an model of these mechanism, the upward and downward regulation of hormone receptors located in a simply hormone driven autonomous agent. We frame this study in a multi agent setup using competition as a way to change the dynamics of the environment and the challenges the agents face. We found that this simply epigenetic mechanism has the potential to significantly alter the behaviour of the agents, allowing them to develop not only unique individual behaviour but also group like structures that permit them to better adapt to the different challenges that the environment presents. %B Proc. 4th Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-Epirob 2014) %I IEEE %C Genoa, Italy %P 402–407 %8 10/2014 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6983015/ %R 10.1109/DEVLRN.2014.6983015 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 5th Annual International Conference on Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA 2014) %D 2014 %T Modulating Perception with Pleasure for Action Selection %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Persistence and opportunism are two key features of cognitive action selection architectures. For an autonomous robot that has to satisfy multiple conflicting survival-related needs, it is crucial to persist in the execution of behaviors for long enough to get sufficient benefit. Persistence is important to avoid what is known as the "dithering" problem, which occurs when a robot keeps switching between trying to satisfy two needs without satisfying either of them enough to guarantee survival. Opportunism concerns the initiation of actions, and occurs when an agent chooses to consume a resource that might not satisfy its most pressing need, but which is available now and might not be available later. The degree to which a robot should show persistence and opportunism depends on multiple factors; we could generally say that persistence leads to a more "conservative" action selection behavior and opportunism to a more "risky" one. %B Proc. 5th Annual International Conference on Biologically-Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA 2014) %C Cambridge, MA %8 11/2014 %G eng %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 4th Workshop on Child Computer Interaction (WOCCI 2014) %D 2014 %T Natural Emotion Elicitation for Emotion Modeling in Child-Robot Interactions %A Wang, Weiyi %A Athanasopoulos, Georgios %A Yilmazyildiz, Selma %A Patsis, Georgios %A Valentin Enescu %A Hichem Sahli %A Verhelst, Werner %A Antoine Hiolle %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X Obtaining spontaneous emotional expressions is the very first and vital step in affective computing studies, for both psychologists and computer scientists. However, it is quite challenging to record them in real life, especially when certain modalities are required (e.g. 3D representation of the body). Traditional elicitation and capturing protocols either introduce the awareness of the recording, which may impair the naturalness of the behaviors, or cause too much information loss. In this paper, we present natural emotion elicitation and recording experiments, which were set in child-robot interaction scenarios. Several state-of-the-art technologies were employed to acquire the multi-modal expressive data that will be further used for emotion modeling and recognition studies. The obtained recordings exhibit the expected emotional expressions. %B Proc. 4th Workshop on Child Computer Interaction (WOCCI 2014) %I ICSA %C Singapore %P 51–56 %G eng %U https://www.isca-speech.org/archive/wocci_2014/wc14_051.html %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %D 2014 %T Pleasure, Persistence and Opportunism in Action Selection %A Lewis, Matthew %A Antoine Hiolle %A Lola Cañamero %X An autonomous robot must show appropriate levels of persistence and opportunism to survive. We address this problem by using a mechanism akin to pleasure that modulates exteroception as a function of need satisfaction, rather than based on internal deficits and external threats as in previous work. The different context in which the modulating hormone is released has important consequences on persistence and opportunism. %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %I MIT Press %C New York, NY %P 932–933 %@ 978-0-262-32621-6 %G eng %U https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/978-0-262-32621-6-ch151 %R 10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch151 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %D 2014 %T A Robot that Uses Arousal to Detect Learning Challenges and Seek Help %A Antoine Hiolle %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X In the context of our work on dyadic robot-human (caregiver) interaction from a developmental robotics perspective, in this paper we investigate how an autonomous robot that explores and learns novel environments can make use of its arousal system to detect situations that constitute learning challenges, and request help from a human at points where this help is most needed and can be most beneficial. In a set of experiments, our robot learns to classify and recognize the perceptual properties of various objects placed on a table. We show that the arousal system of the robot permits it to identify and react to incongruent and novel features in the environment. More specifically, our results show that the robot identifies perceived outliers and episodic perceptual anomalies. As in the case of young infants, arousal variations trigger regulatory behaviours that engage caregivers in helping behaviors. We conclude that this attachment-based architecture provides a generic process that permits a robot to request interventions from a human caregiver during relevant events. %B Proc. 14th Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE 2014) %I MIT Press %C New York, NY %P 864–871 %@ 978-0-262-32621-6 %G eng %U https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/978-0-262-32621-6-ch142 %R 10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch142 %0 Conference Paper %B Proc. Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2013) %D 2013 %T Are Discrete Emotions Useful in Human-Robot Interaction? Feedback from Motion Capture Analysis %A Lewis, Matthew %A Lola Cañamero %X We have conducted a study analyzing motion capture data of bodily expressions of human emotions towards the goal of building a social expressive robot that interacts with and supports hospitalized children. Although modeling emotional expression (and recognition) in (by) robots in terms of discrete categories presents advantages such as ease and clarity of interpretation, our results show that this approach also poses a number of problems. The main issues relate to the loss of subtle expressions and feelings, individual features, context, and social interaction elements that are present in real life. %B Proc. Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2013) %I IEEE %C Geneva, Switzerland %P 97–102 %8 09/2013 %G eng %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6681414 %R 10.1109/ACII.2013.23 %0 Conference Paper %B Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013 %D 2013 %T Epigenetic Adaptation in Action Selection Environments with Temporal Dynamics %A Lones, John %A Lola Cañamero %A Lewis, Matthew %X To operate in dynamic environments robots must be able to adapt their behaviour to meet the challenges that these pose while being constrained by their physical and computational limitation. In this paper we continue our study into using biologically inspired epigenetic adaptation through hormone modulation as a way to accommodate the needed flexibility in robots’ behaviour, focusing on problems of temporal dynamics. We have specifically framed our study in three variants of dynamic three-resource action selection environment. The challenges posed by these environments include: moving resources, temporal and increasing unavailability of resources, and cyclic changes in type and availability of resources related to cyclic environmental changes. %B Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013 %I MIT Press %P 505–512 %G eng %U https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/978-0-262-31709-2-ch073 %R 10.7551/978-0-262-31709-2-ch073 %0 Conference Paper %B 2012 IEEE RO-MAN: The 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication %D 2012 %T Children's Adaptation in Multi-session Interaction with a Humanoid Robot %A Nalin, Marco %A Baroni, Ilaria %A Kruijff-Korbayová, Ivana %A Lola Cañamero %A Lewis, Matthew %A Aryel Beck %A Cuayáhuitl, Heriberto %A Alberto Sanna %X This work presents preliminary observations from a study of children (N=19, age 5–12) interacting in multiple sessions with a humanoid robot in a scenario involving game activities. The main purpose of the study was to see how their perception of the robot, their engagement, and their enjoyment of the robot as a companion evolve across multiple interactions, separated by one-two weeks. However, an interesting phenomenon was observed during the experiment: most of the children soon adapted to the behaviors of the robot, in terms of speech timing, speed and tone, verbal input formulation, nodding, gestures, etc. We describe the experimental setup and the system, and our observations and preliminary analysis results, which open interesting questions for further research. %B 2012 IEEE RO-MAN: The 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication %I IEEE %P 351–357 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6343778/ %R 10.1109/ROMAN.2012.6343778 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Human-Robot Interaction %D 2012 %T Multimodal Child-Robot Interaction: Building Social Bonds %A Tony Belpaeme %A Paul E. Baxter %A Robin Read %A Rachel Wood %A Cuayáhuitl, Heriberto %A Kiefer, Bernd %A Racioppa, Stefania %A Kruijff-Korbayová, Ivana %A Athanasopoulos, Georgios %A Valentin Enescu %A Rosemarijn Looije %A Mark A. Neerincx %A Yiannis Demiris %A Raquel Ros-Espinoza %A Aryel Beck %A Lola Cañamero %A Lewis, Matthew %A Baroni, Ilaria %A Nalin, Marco %A Cosi, Piero %A Giulio Paci %A Tesser, Fabio %A Sommavilla, Giacomo %A Remi Humbert %X For robots to interact effectively with human users they must be capable of coordinated, timely behavior in response to social context. The Adaptive Strategies for Sustainable Long-Term Social Interaction (ALIZ-E) project focuses on the design of long-term, adaptive social interaction between robots and child users in real-world settings. In this paper, we report on the iterative approach taken to scientific and technical developments toward this goal: advancing individual technical competencies and integrating them to form an autonomous robotic system for evaluation “in the wild.” The first evaluation iterations have shown the potential of this methodology in terms of adaptation of the robot to the interactant and the resulting influences on engagement. This sets the foundation for an ongoing research program that seeks to develop technologies for social robot companions. %B Journal of Human-Robot Interaction %V 1 %P 33–53 %G eng %U https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3109688.3109691 %N 2 %R 10.5898/JHRI.1.2.Belpaeme