# From Motions to Emotions: Can the Fundamental Emotions be Expressed in a Robot Swarm?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.12118 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.12118/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 Mar 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [A Review of Affective Generation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.10763/) (2022)
- [Interactive Multi-Robot Flocking with Gesture Responsiveness and Musical Accompaniment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.00442/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper explores the expressive capabilities of a swarm of miniature mobile robots within the context of inter-robot interactions and their mapping to the so-called fundamental emotions. In particular, we investigate how motion and shape descriptors that are psychologically associated with different emotions can be incorporated into different swarm behaviors for the purpose of artistic expositions. Based on these characterizations from social psychology, a set of swarm behaviors is created, where each behavior corresponds to a fundamental emotion. The effectiveness of these behaviors is evaluated in a survey in which the participants are asked to associate different swarm behaviors with the fundamental emotions. The results of the survey show that most of the research participants assigned to each video the emotion intended to be portrayed by design. These results confirm that abstract descriptors associated with the different fundamental emotions in social psychology provide useful motion characterizations that can be effectively transformed into expressive behaviors for a swarm of simple ground mobile robots.