Towards truly affective AAL systems

Affective computing is a growing field of artificial intelligence. It focuses on models and strategies for detecting, obtaining, and expressing various affective states, including emotions, moods, and personality related attributes. The techniques and models developed in affective computing are applicable to various affective contexts, including Ambient Assisted Living. One of the hypotheses for the origin of emotion is that the primary purpose was to regulate social interactions. Since one of the crucial characteristics of Ambient Assisted Living systems is supporting social contact, it is unthinkable to build such systems without considering emotions. Moreover, the emotional capacity needed for Ambient Assisted Living systems exceeds simple user emotion detection and showing emotion expressions of the system. In addition, emotion generation and emotion mapping on rational thinking and behavior of a system should be considered. The chapter discusses the need and requirements for these processes in the context of various application domains of Ambient Assisted Living, i.e., healthcare, mobility, education, and social interaction.