NumberIII-2-1
Title Agents with faces - What can we learn from LEGO Minfigures?
Authors Christoph Bartneck (University of Canterbury)
Mohammad Obaid (University of Canterbury)
Karolina Zawieska (PIAP)
Abstract Emotional facial expressions are essential for agents. The LEGO company developed hundreds of facial expressions for their Minifigures. We present a summary of the development of the facial expression for all LEGO Minifigures that were released between 1975 and 2010. The results show that the LEGO company started in 1989 to dramatically increase the variety of facial expressions. The two most frequent expressions are happiness and anger and the proportion of happy faces is decreasing over time. Through a k-cluster analysis we identified six types of facial expression: disdain, confidence, concern, fear, happiness, and anger. The impression of anger, disgust, sadness and surprise were significantly influenced by the presence of context information. The distinctiveness of the faces was not significantly improved. The variation in skin color did not change the perception of the Minifigure's emotional expression.
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