Sunday, August 20, 2006

"Hello, I'm Quasi"


Quasi mimics the mood personality of a 12-year old boy. Quasi's five "moods" are conveyed by the color of it's LED eyes and antennae. Red signifies anger, yellow means confusion, purple-pink signals embarrassment, and green is happy. (Photos: Tom Altany)

Quasi's creators: Graduate Students @ Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center.

Quasi's "moods" depend on what's been happening in his environment, but rather than being driven by prepubescent biology, they are architected by an elaborately scripted software-based behavioral model that triggers his responses. Quasi lets you know how he's "feeling" through the changing colors of his LED eyes and his body language. If, for example, a passerby ignores Quasi, the robot's mood shifts to a sadder state: its eyes and antennae turn blue, its head hangs down, and it becomes stingy with its offers of candy.

Each mood, in turn, has a range of intensities. So if Quasi plays a game of tic-tac-toe with a visitor and the visitor keeps winning, the robot's state shifts to anger: the antennae lie back, the eyes glow red. Continued losses will trigger additional anger states and finally an ignore state, in which Quasi refuses to play or even acknowledge the visitor. But, as with most 12-year-old boys, the mood doesn't last long: after a few minutes, the state reverts to a less angry one, and Quasi begins interacting again.