This extended abstract presents our ongoing work on deriving interaction models for humanoid robots. The approach differs from earlier interaction learning approaches in that it learns a model from a recorded rapport between two human individuals. Extracted models are used to generate the behavior of humanoid robots.

People mimic each other's actions and postures during everyday interactions. It is widely believed this mimicry acts as a social glue, leading to increased rapport. We present two studies using virtual reality to rigorously test this hypothesis. In Study 1, 50 participants interacted with two avatars who either mimicked their head and torso movements at a 1 or 3 second time delay or did not mim...

Our proposed ranking model ranks conversation partners based on self-reported rapport levels for each participant. The is important tasks that recommend interaction user built in past interactions, such as matchmaking between a student and teacher one-to-one online language classes. To rank partners, we can use regression predicts ratings. It is, however, challenging to learn the mapping from p...

We investigate the role of increasing friendship in dialogue, and propose a first step towards a computational model of the role of long-term relationships in language use between humans and embodied conversational agents. Data came from a study of friends and strangers, who either could or could not see one another, and who were asked to give directions to one-another, three subsequent times. ...

BACKGROUND Nonverbal communication is a critical feature of successful social interaction and interpersonal rapport. Social exclusion is a feature of schizophrenia. This experimental study investigated if the undisclosed presence of a patient with schizophrenia in interaction changes nonverbal communication (ie, speaker gesture and listener nodding). METHOD 3D motion-capture techniques record...