Robot Character Design Technical Reference Materials
This page includes the background research and references on robot character development. You can refer to this page as you design your character or read it as a technical reference.
Background Information & Relevant Research
Key Concepts & Definitions
A clear identifier for people to refer to and address the robot.
The internal objectives that drive the character’s behavior, which must align with the robot’s intended task.
The historical background of the character that makes their identity and behavior believable to users.
The traits that describe the robot character, including expressiveness, friendliness, trustworthiness, persuasiveness, and cultural affiliations.
Signature actions, gestures, or catchphrases that the robot character repeatedly performs.
The intentionally structured dynamic between the robot and user. Research indicates that a peer dynamic leads to higher engagement than an authority or tutor dynamic.
References
Gockley, R., et al. “Designing robots for long-term social interaction.” 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Edmonton, AB, Canada, 2005, pp. 1338-1343, doi: 10.1109/IROS.2005.1545303. (PDF)
Simmons, Reid, et al. “Believable robot characters.” AI Magazine 32, no. 4 (2011): 39-52. (PDF)
Zaga, Cristina, et al. “The effect of a robot’s social character on children’s task engagement: Peer versus tutor.” In Social Robotics: 7th International Conference, ICSR 2015, proceedings, pp. 704-713. Springer, 2015. (PDF)