In this paper, we survey the field of affective robotics, focusing on bodily expressed emotion—both recognising affect through human body movements and postures, and generating robotic movement that is perceived as emotional by human observers. We frame this examination through the lens of the performing arts, drawing on an art-inspired case study alongside foundational background material to explore the expressive potential of robots. This close engagement with the performing arts reveals the intense malleability and diversity of bodily expression, challenging some prevailing goals in the field—such as designing generally “happy” robotic movement—and highlighting the importance of context and interactional intent. We conclude by proposing future directions for bodily expressed affective robotics that integrate advances from both robotics and the performing arts
D. Herath, A. LaViers, S. Zhang, N. H. Wijesinghe, S. Konrad, J. Busby Grant, J. Z. Wang, et al., “The Body in Affective Robotics: A Survey and Conceptual Positioning Using the Performing Arts as a Scaffold for Understanding Bodily Expressed Emotion,” IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 2025.