Zoomorphic robots could serve as accessible and practical alternatives for users unable or unwilling to keep pets. However, their affective interactions are often simplistic and short-lived, limiting their potential for domestic adoption. In order to facilitate more dynamic and nuanced affective interactions and relationships between users and zoomorphic robots we present AZRA, a novel augmented reality (AR) framework that extends the affective capabilities of these robots without physical modifications. To demonstrate AZRA, we augment a zoomorphic robot, Petit Qoobo, with novel emotional displays (face, light, sound, thought bubbles) and interaction modalities (voice, touch, proximity, gaze). Additionally, AZRA features a computational model of emotion to calculate the robot's emotional responses, daily moods, evolving personality and needs. We highlight how AZRA can be used for rapid participatory prototyping and enhancing existing robots, then discuss implications on future zoomorphic robot development.

Animal welfare education could greatly benefit from customized robots to help children learn about animals and their behavior, and thereby promote positive, safe child-animal interactions. To this end, we ran Participatory Design workshops with animal welfare educators and children to identify key requirements for zoomorphic robots from their perspectives. Our findings encompass a zoomorphic robot's appearance, behavior, and features, as well as concepts for a narrative surrounding the robot. Through comparing and contrasting the two groups, we find the importance of: negative reactions to undesirable behavior from children; using the facial features and tail to provide cues signaling an animal's internal state; and a natural, furry appearance and texture. We also contribute some novel activities for Participatory Design with children, including branching storyboards inspired by thematic apperception tests and interactive narratives, and reflect on some of the key design challenges of achieving consensus between the groups, despite much overlap in their design concepts.

Prior work has demonstrated AR object affective design space and participatory prototyping. Participants detection for mobile robots, ensuring robots are identified in felt present in VR with the robot and engaged in physical affective the environment [38]. However, while most smartphones can be touch, reducing the interaction gap between previous screendisplayed used to enable AR, glasses or visors that would allow for seamless prototypes and real robots [56, 25]. VR offers practical and unimpeded interaction with a zoomorphic robot are still specialist benefits compared to physical or even AR prototyping, allowing total or hobbyist items. While more future-facing, this approach control of the robot's current or prospective capabilities without contributes another use case for the generalised augmented reality obstructive physical modification. It could also facilitate rapid customisation that in turn adds value to future zoomorphic robots. of a robot's appearance.