Eye contact is a crucial behaviour in human communication and therefore an essencial feature in human-robot interaction. A study regarding the development of an eye behaviour model for a robotic tutor in a task-oriented environment is presented, along with a description of how our proposed model is being used to implement an autonomous robot in the EMOTE project.

Emotions are a key element in all human interactions. It is well documented that individual- and group-level interactions have different emotional expressions and humans are by nature extremely competent in perceiving, adapting and reacting to them. However, when developing social robots, emotions are not so easy to cope with. In this paper we introduce the concept of emotional climate applied to human-robot interaction (HRI) to define a group-level emotional expression at a given time. By doing so, we move one step further in developing a new tool that deals with group emotions within HRI.

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a highly multidisciplinary endeavor. However, it often still appears to be an effort driven primarily by technical aims and concerns. We outline some of the major challenges for fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration in HRI, arguing for an improved integration of psychology and applied social sciences and their genuine research agendas. Based on our own disciplinary backgrounds, we discuss these issues from vantage points mostly originating in applied engineering and psychology, but also from relevant related fields such as sociology, communication sciences, philosophy, arts, and design. We take a project-case as an example to discuss grounded and practical challenges in HRI research, and to propose how a combination of artificial intelligence advances and a better conceptual definition of the role of social sciences in HRI research may prove to be beneficial. Our goal is to strengthen the impact and effectiveness of social scientists working in HRI, and thereby better prepare the field for future challenges.

YOLO is a social robot designed and developed to stimulate creativity in children through storytelling activities. Children use it as a character in their stories. This article details the artificial intelligence software developed for YOLO. The implemented software schedules through several Creativity Behaviors to find the ones that stimulate creativity more effectively. YOLO can choose between convergent and divergent thinking techniques, two important processes of creative thought. These techniques were developed based on the psychological theories of creativity development and on research from creativity experts who work with children. Additionally, this software allows the creation of Social Behaviors that enable the robot to behave as a believable character. On top of our framework, we built 3 main social behavior parameters: Exuberant, Aloof, and Harmonious. These behaviors are meant to ease immersive play and the process of character creation. The 3 social behaviors were based on psychological theories of personality and developed using children's input during co-design studies. Overall, this work presents an attempt to design, develop, and deploy social robots that nurture intrinsic human abilities, such as the ability to be creative.