AI-assisted authoring of playful, expressive behaviors for assistive robot arms

Overview

Robomoji is the lab's emerging research thread on playful interactions for assistive robot arms, building on Dr. Duval's earlier Emoji to Robomoji work. The goal is an AI-assisted authoring interface plus a behavior library spanning low-risk activities of daily living and emoji-like expressive gestures  so the robot is useful for tasks and available for creative expression and social connection. The project hypothesizes that enabling people to author their own playful, semantically meaningful robot behaviors will increase perceived utility, acceptance, and STEM identity.

Problem & Motivation

Assistive robotics for powerchair users and people with limited arm use are typically designed around survival-oriented tasks  feeding, grasping, repositioning  leaving gaps in social connection, creative expression, and holistic well-being. A single device that can serve more parts of a user's life than a narrow ADL toolkit represents a compelling opportunity for research into playful, meaningful human-robot interaction.