Squash-Stretch for a New Genre of Expressive Robots

Tofu is a robot designed to create what is known in the animation world as “the illusion of life,” by leveraging design principles from 2-D animation and cognitive psychology. Through use of actuation and display technologies, these robot design principles have been applied to create incredibly low-cost and expressive robot characters. To further explore these robots as expressive characters, we are examining their use as a storytelling medium. By combining elements of robot puppetry and autonomous robot agents, we aim to create a storytelling medium that enables children to create engaging stories within a constructivist-learning environment.