From the Virtual to the Robotic: Bringing Emoting and Appraising Agents into Reality

Abstract

A classical appraisal model of emotions extended with artificial metabolic mechanisms is presented. The new architecture is based on two existing models: WASABI and a model of Microbial Fuel Cell technology. WASABI is a top-down cognitive model which is implemented in several virtual world applications such as a museum guide. Microbial fuel cells provide energy for the robot through digesting food. The presented work is a first step towards imbuing a physical robot with emotions of human-like complexity. Classically, such integration has only been attempted in the virtual domain. The research aim is to study the embodied appraisal theory and to show the role of the body in the emotion mechanisms. Some initial tests of the architecture with humanoid NAO robot in a minimalistic scenario are presented.