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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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Mark your calendar: Nov 30, 2023, in the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Arvid Kappas will participate in a talk-concert on New Music and Emotions – More details soon.

The next meeting of the DFG funded SPP The Active Self takes place from Feb 27 to March 1 in Fulda. We will present the outcome of the first empirical studies on the naive theory of the self.

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!

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.

We will be looking soon for a PhD student in the context of the European Commission funded European Training Network ANIMATAS (Advancing intuitive human-machine interaction with human-like social capabilities for education in schools).

More information to follow