This is How I Feel: Personalizing Socio-Emotional Expression in AAC with Social Robots
Matthieu DePaul, Michael Cabrera, Cameron Tuttle
School of Engineering
Faculty Supervisor: Alyssa Kubota
Current augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems often rely on generic symbols, which can make it harder to express abstract socio-emotional concepts (e.g., feelings, internal states) in everyday interaction. This work aims to support AAC learners in identifying and expressing these concepts by grounding symbol design in lived experience and involving users and families throughout the design process. Rather than assuming universal meanings or fixed communication norms, it centers how AAC users already make meaning and recognizes that these meanings can shift over time. The proposed system allows stakeholders to personalize AAC symbols and design corresponding robot expressions that represent abstract socio-emotional concepts in personally meaningful ways. Symbols rooted in lived experience may be easier to recognize and interpret, while social robots may help reinforce connections between selected symbols and concepts through embodied cues such as movement, posture, and facial expressions. In this system, a user selects a desired state of being on their AAC device, and the robot responds in a way that supports learning and interpretation.