New paper out: These Aren’t The Droids You Are Looking for: Promises and Challenges for the Intersection of Affective Science and Robotics/AI

The preprint of These Aren’t The Droids You Are Looking for: Promises and Challenges for the Intersection of Affective Science and Robotics/AI, Kappas & Gratch is out today.

AI research focused on interactions with humans, particularly in the form of robots or virtual agents, has expanded in the last two decades to include concepts related to afective processes. Afective computing is an emerging feld that deals with issues such as how the diagnosis of afective states of users can be used to improve such interactions, also with a view to demonstrate afective behavior towards the user. This type of research often is based on two beliefs: (1) artifcial emotional intelligence will improve human computer interaction (or more specifcally human robot interaction), and (2) we understand the role of afective behavior in human interaction sufciently to tell artifcial systems what to do. However, within affective science the focus of research is often to test a particular assumption, such as “smiles afect liking.” Such focus does not provide the information necessary to synthesize afective behavior in long dynamic and real-time interactions. In consequence, theories do not play a large role in the development of artifcial afective systems by engineers, but self-learning systems develop their behavior out of large corpora of recorded interactions. The status quo is characterized by measurement issues, theoretical lacunae regarding prevalence and functions of afective behavior in interaction, and underpowered studies that cannot provide the solid empirical foundation for further theoretical developments. This contribution will highlight some of these challenges and point towards next steps to create a rapprochement between engineers and afective scientists with a view to improving theory and solid applications.

Keywords Robotics · Afective computing · Human robot interaction · Artifcial intelligence

 

Kappas, A., Gratch, J. These Aren’t The Droids You Are Looking for: Promises and Challenges for the Intersection of Affective Science and Robotics/AI. Affec Sci (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-023-00211-3

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Arvid Kappas – invited keynote at the HRI Winterschool on embodied AI 2022 in Ghent

From the organizers:

Ghent University, VAIA and Utrecht University are organising the Human-Robot Interaction Winter School on Embodied AI from 5 to 7 December 2022 in Ghent, Belgium.

The Winter School is aimed at early-career researchers (i.e. PhD students and postdocs – Master’s students are welcome as well) doing research in the fields of embodied AI and Human-Robot Interaction, no matter your background or perspective. We will provide you with introductions, inspiration, and hands-on work in a varied programme that showcases the interdisciplinarity of our fields.Topics that will be covered include multi-modal interaction, emotions and social signal processing, NLP in embodied AI, participatory design, ethics, and human-robot interaction in real-world applications. Most importantly: you’ll spend three days in a vibrant group of interesting researchers and experienced mentors – in the beautiful city of Ghent!

SMART School on Computational Social and Behavioral Sciences, September 5 – 7, 2018

The SMART School on Computational Social and Behavioral Sciences will take place in Paris, Paris, September 5 – 7, 2018. It is co-organized with the SMART Labex, a Laboratory of Excellence on SMART Human/Machine/Human Interactions in the Digital Society (Sorbonne Université, Paris).

Tracks:

  • Theories and methods for the study of emotions
  • Sensing human behaviors, emotions and sentiments
  • Computational models for Social Robotics and Embodied Conversational Agents 
  • Robots for Learning
  • Interactive Machine Learning
  • Ethics in Human-Machine Interaction
  • Industrial applications of Human Machine Interaction Systems in Educational Settings

Preliminary list of speakers:

  • Ruth Aylett (Heriot-Watt University)
  • Tony Belpaeme (Ghent University, Plymouth University)
  • Joost Broekens (Interactive Robotics)
  • Ginevra Castellano (Uppsala University)
  • Raja Chatila (ISIR, Sorbonne University)
  • Pierre Dillenbourg (EPFL)
  • Jonathan Gratch (USC)
  • Friedrich Hesse (University of Tuebingen)
  • Arvid Kappas (Jacobs University)
  • Vanda Luengo (LIP6, Sorbonne University)
  • Pierre-Yves Oudeyer (INRIA)
  • Ana Paiva (INESC-ID)

Arvid Kappas to hold keynote at V Congreso Internacional en Contextos Psicológicos, Educativos y de la Salud

Arvid Kappas will hold a key note address at the V Congreso Internacional en Contextos Psicológicos, Educativos y de la Salud in Madrid 21-23 November, 2018, with the title DEVELOPING ROBOTS TO LEARN ABOUT HUMANS: THE CASE OF EMOTIONS.  This talk will focus on the ongoing research within the ANIMATAS network and the EMOTE project that ran from 2012-2016.