Gestural behavioral implementation on a humanoid robotic platform for effective social interaction

The role of emotions in social scenarios is to provide an inherent mode of communication between two parties. When emotions are properly employed and understood, people are able to respond appropriately, which further enhances the social interaction. Ultimately, effective emotion execution in social settings has the capability to build rapport, improve engagement, optimize learning, provide comfort, and increase overall likability. In this paper, we discuss associating dominant emotions of effective social interaction to gestural behaviors on a humanoid robotic platform. Studies with 13 participants interacting with the robot show that by integrating key principles related to the characteristics of happy and sad emotions, the intended emotion is perceived across all participants with 95.19% and 94.23% sensitivity, respectively.