eMuu - emotional robos based on 2 LEGO Mindstorms RCX

eMuu is more one emotional robot very interesting to consider. The eMuu software consists of 3 components. The game engine, which implements the negotiation task, and the character engine, which controls the behaviour of the character, are running on a PC using JAVA.
The emotional reasoning is based on the OCC model (Ortony, 1988). The emotion engine, which controls the emotional state and the facial expression, is running on 2 LEGO Mindstorms RCX (Mindstorm, 2001) inside of the robot and communicates with the PC via infrared. Since infrared communication is rather slow the communication is limited to the exchange of emotional states and behaviour control. The software for the RCX is written in JAVA and runs on the leJos (Solorzano , 2001) firmware, a Java Virtual Machine for the RCX.

This architecture builds on Sloman’s (Sloman, 1999) evolutionary approach of the mind. The emotions and sensor-motoric control are in the lower part of the conscious (the processor inside the RCX) and the reasoning in the higher conscious (the PC).

Reference:

• Bartneck, C., Okada, M., (2000), eMuu – An Emotional Robot http://www.bartneck.de/work/bartneck_robofesta.pdf
• Ortony, A.; Clore, G.; Collins, A., 1988, 'The Cognitive Structure of Emotions'. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• [Solorzano, 2001] Solorzano, Jose: leJOS: Java based OS for Lego RCX at http://lejos.sourceforge.net/
• LEGO Mindstorm, 2001: LEGO Mindstroms website at http://www.legomindstorms.com
• Sloman, A.: 1999, 'Architectural requirements for human-like agents both natural and artificial '. In: K. Dautenhahn, (ed): Human Cognition And Social Agent Technology, Advances in Consciousness Research, 19, Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company.