Does Expression of Grounded Affect in a Hexapod Robot Elicit More Prosocial Responses?

Abstract

We consider how non-humanoid robots can commu- nicate 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 pre- liminary 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.