Awareness communications by entertaining toy doll agents

In this paper, we propose a sensor-doll system that provides multiple users at remote locations with an awareness communication channel. A doll is used as the interface agent of the local user, and this agent is connected to a remote doll by local and/or wide area networks. The doll sends out information on the local ambient activities and user’s intentional interactions to the remote agent and, at the same time, displays the received remote activities by adapting its presentation to the local context. Musical sound expression is used to display the remote awareness, mixing the local response and remote activities. Music also provides an entertaining and sympathetic intimacy with the doll and eventually the remote user. The design and implementation of the networked sensordoll, equipped with various tactile sensors and a PC, are described in detail. We also discuss issues of awareness communication and give preliminary experimental results.