Subtle Expressivity in a Robotic Computer

A Robotic Computer, which moves its monitor "head" and "neck" but has no explicit face, is being designed to interact with users in a natural way for applications such as learning, rapport-building, interactive teaching, and posture improvement. In all these applications, the robot will need to move in subtle ways that express its state, and that promote appropriate movements in the user, but that don't distract or annoy. Toward this goal, we are giving the system the ability to recognize subtle expressions as well as the ability to have them. This paper describes the design of this system, initial findings on the perceived qualities of its expressions, and planned future work aimed at measuring behavioral effects of its expressiveness.