Behavioural Adaptation of Real-time Emotional Robotic Agents

The interest of the application of emotional computational models to improve the design of intelligent robots has been growing in the roboticist community for the last years. Emotional models are used to modulate the robot cognitive system to improve its ongoing behaviour control. A key issue of the design is the selection and modulation of the cognitive behavioural load depending on the problem to be solved. To undertake the modulation, the agent is conscious of its mental capacities and it manages emotional appraisals that are dependent on the agent attitude, such as the expectation of success. This paper presents the modulation system of real-time emotional agents (RTEA) and shows how emotional appraisals, that have proven effectively in ethological systems, can influence the agent’s decision making.