Heart of a new machine [robot that can express different moods]

Graduate students at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center has designed a robot that features five different "moods." Called Quasi, the 76-centimeter tall robot is a captivating character that goes beyond the standard animatronic amusement park figures. Quasi can express happiness, sadness, anger, confusion, and embarassment. These moods are conveyed most obviously by the color of its light-emitting-diode eyes and antennae. The moods are controlled by a finite state machine, a software-based behavioral model that triggers certain actions when specific conditions are met.