The Articulated Head is an innovative solution for the embodiment for an AI (Artificial Intelligence) agent that is both operationally necessary and aesthetically pleasing. It was designed not only to better embody a software agent and produce a stronger sense of presence but also to produce a more emotive and artistic performative installation than has been available thus far. It enables us to attach a variety of sensors to the robot system so that the Head can receive adequate feedback from interlocutors in the real world. In other words the Articulated Head is no longer a virtual entity but an actual physical presence.

The Articulated Head is, therefore, a significant step towards the evaluation of more complex human-robot interactions. It affords a multiplicity of methods to research these various interactions. The LCD screen mounted on the end of the 6 degree-of-freedom industrial robot arm effectively becomes the neck of the AI agent. The advantage of this configuration is that the virtual behaviour of the Prosthetic Head can be augmented, counterpointed or synchronized with the motion of the robot. The robot allows us to have a library of articulated movements of the LCD screen to turn CW or CCW, bend forwards and backwards, nod up and down, and swivel from side to side. The industrial robot arm provides precision and robustness with a variation of speed from imperceptibly slow to very fast motion allowing programming movements from the subtle and gentle to quite aggressive gestures.