Arousal and awareness in a humanoid robot We describe how an arousal system that controls the levels of awareness can be implemented in a robot. The different levels of awareness correspond to different states of consciousness and we argue that an artificial arousal system modeled after its biological counterpart has a useful function in controlling the cognitive processing of a brainlike cognitive architecture. The level of awareness depends on arousal that in turn is controlled by novel or emotionally charged stimuli as well as by a circadian clock. Arousal is also modulated during cognitive tasks to control the randomness of decision processes and to select between exploration and exploitation.

A Systematic Comparison of Affective Robot Expression Modalities This paper provides a survey of the different means of expression employed by robots conveying affective states to human recipients. The paper introduces a model of affective expression modalities (MOAM) that describes and compares the emphasis on specific means of expression and applies it to the surveyed robots. Using the model entails viewing the effect of applied expression modalities in light of how well the robot responds to external stimuli and with attention to how aligned the robotxe2x80x99s means of affective expressions are with the intended working scenario. The modelbased survey shows that a majority (85%) of the surveyed robots contain a category with room for additional affective means of expression, and a quarter (25.6%) of the robots use a single or two affective expression modalities to convey affective states. The result of the survey indicates there is an underresearched opportunity in exploring synergies between the different expression modalities to amplify the overall affective impact of a robot.