Attainable Digital Embodied Storytelling Using State of the Art Tools, and a Little Touch

How closely can a robot capable of generating non-verbal behavior approximate a human narrator? What are the missing features that limit the naturalness and expressiveness of the robot as a storyteller? In this paper we explore this topic by identifying the key aspects to effectively convey the content of a story and therefore by analysing appropriate methodologies and tools that allow to automatically enrich the expressiveness of the generated behavior. Lastly, we will explore some modifications to weigh up the gap between robot and human-like behavior. Demonstration videos reveal that albeit the communicative capabilities of the robot are appropriate, there is still room for improvement.