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Creating Relationships with Computers and Robots 11Chapter 16 discusses how an interactive computer system can be used inemotion recognition therapy for children with autism. Katharine Blocher andRosalind W. Picard developed and tested a system called Affective Social Quest(ASQ). The system includes computer software as well as toy-like ‘agents’, i.e.stuffed dolls that serve as haptic interfaces through which the child interactswith the computer. This approach therefore nicely bridges the gap between theworld of software and the embodied world of physical objects 4 . Practitionerscan configure ASQ for individual children, an important requirement for theusage of computer technology in therapy. Evaluations tested how well childrenwith autism could match emotional expressions shown on the computerscreen with emotions represented by the dolls. Results of the evaluations areencouraging. However, and as it is the case for all three chapters in this bookon autism therapy, the authors suggest that long-term studies are necessary inorder to provide more conclusive results with regard to how interactive systemscan be used in autism therapy.In chapter 17 Stacy C. Marsella describes how socially intelligent animatedvirtual agents are used to create an ‘interactive drama’. The drama called Carmen’sBright IDEAS has clear therapeutic goals: the particular application areais therapeutic counseling, namely assisting mothers whose children undergocancer treatment in social problem solving skills. The interactive pedagogicaldrama involves two characters, the counselor Gina, and Carmen who representsthe mother of a pediatric cancer patient. The user (learner) interacts withGina and Carmen and it is hoped that these interactions provide a therapeuticeffect. Important issues in this work are the creation of believable charactersand a believable story. In order to influence the user, the system needs to engagethe user sufficiently so that she truly empathizes with the characters. Thesystem faces a very demanding audience, very different e.g. from virtual dramasenacted in game software, but if successful it could make an importantcontribution to the quality of life of people involved.2.5 Socially Intelligent RobotsEmbodied socially intelligent robots open up a wide variety of potential applicationsfor social agent technology. Robots that express emotion and cancooperate with humans may serve, for example, as toys, service robots, mobiletour guides, and other advice givers. But in addition to offering practicalapplications for social agent technology, social robots also constitute powerfultools to investigate cognitive mechanisms underlying social intelligence.The first three chapters of this section propose robotic platforms that embedsome of the cognitive mechanisms required to develop social intelligence andto achieve socially competent interactions with humans, while the fourth one isprimarily concerned with understanding human response to “perceived” social