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Human Emotional Understanding for Empathetic Companion Robots

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Book cover Advances in Computational Intelligence Systems

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 513))

Abstract

Companion robots are becoming more common in home environments, as such a greater emphasis is required on analysis of human behaviour. An important aspect of human behaviour is emotion, both the ability to express and comprehend. While humans have developed excellent skills in inferring the emotional states of their counterparts via implicit cues such as facial expression and body language, this level of understanding is often neglected in Human Robot Interactions; furthermore, humans are able to empathetically respond to the emotions of others to create a more harmonious and person relationship. This paper is a preliminary proposal of a novel approach for facial emotional detection and appropriate empathetic responses, in conjunction with long term emotion mapping and prediction; the proposed system will be implemented on a social mobile robot, thus allowing a further level of behavioural comprehension to achieve a more human like encounter. The technique will be based on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, using FACS Action Units as inputs, a high level facial descriptor layer and output of six emotions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK

    Alyxander David May, Ahmad Lotfi, Caroline Langensiepen & Kevin Lee

  2. Department of Physics “Ettore Pancini”, University of Naples Federico II, 80126, Naples, Italy

    Giovanni Acampora

Authors
  1. Alyxander David May
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  2. Ahmad Lotfi
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  3. Caroline Langensiepen
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  4. Kevin Lee
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  5. Giovanni Acampora
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alyxander David May .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University Bailrigg School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Plamen Angelov

  2. School of Computing, University of Portsmouth School of Computing, Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom

    Alexander Gegov

  3. School of Comp. Sci. & Digital Media, Robert Gordon University School of Comp. Sci. & Digital Media, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Chrisina Jayne

  4. Ins. of Mathematics, Physics & Comp. Sci, Aberystwyth University Ins. of Mathematics, Physics & Comp. Sci, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom

    Qiang Shen

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May, A.D., Lotfi, A., Langensiepen, C., Lee, K., Acampora, G. (2017). Human Emotional Understanding for Empathetic Companion Robots. In: Angelov, P., Gegov, A., Jayne, C., Shen, Q. (eds) Advances in Computational Intelligence Systems. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 513. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46562-3_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46562-3_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46561-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46562-3

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