Emotional Interactions between Artificial Companion Agents and the Elderly

As the global population ages and the occurrence of single and "empty nest" elderly household increases, artificial companion agents will play a more important part in seniors' daily life to bridge some of the gaps left by the shortage of caregiving manpower. This research focuses on improving the emotional interaction strategies of artificial companion agents and advising designers on how to produce agents that fulfil missing social roles around seniors to enhance the believability of these agents.