On using emotions in decision-making by situated robots

Several attempts have been made to embed emotions into machines so as to improve their abilities and perform better. In this paper, we try to empower a situated robot with a decision-making capability based on dynamics similar to that used to generate synthetic emotions. Using resources made available to it within its environment, the robot selects and performs one of several high and low profile tasks so as to survive comfortably within its environment. The main goal is to ensure that the robot performs as many high profile tasks as possible during its life time. We define a Comfort level that forms a metric to ascertain its usefulness in the environment using which the robot is motivated to perform the tasks. We present the results obtained from actual experiments conducted using a real robot situated in an Artificial-Life-like environment and conclude that the use of emotions in the decision-making process motivates the robot to perform more of the high profile tasks and thus increases its utilization in the given environment.