Nonverbal behaviors of machines

My interest in the movement of socially interactive machines does not include performances of impressive tricks or flips, or even dances.  Rather, I am interested in movements that have the power to engage people to become aware of and more likely to interact with other people in their immediate environment — mannerisms that are found in everyday movements, like the attitude in which a machine splits an Oreo, or folds laundry, or pours a guest a drink.  

While motion planning is generally regarded as an optimization problem to find the shortest and most efficient path for task completion, such optimization is not necessarily good form in social robotics.  Physical expressions can be generated through fundamental behaviors in mobile robots through simple variations in motion planning.  However, there is a lack of research about the manner of physical expressions and the impact of nonverbal behaviors of machines in social settings.

Fundamental behaviors of mobile robots can be designed to exhibit distinct character traits for applications in social interaction (public space robots, service robots, companion robots, etc.) and adjusted to create countless variety in the nonverbal expression of emotions.  For these reasons, I am interested in conducting exploratory design research about the behavioral dynamics of motion planning and artificial emotion.