Can a non-humanoid robot communicate a humorous experience through gestures alone?

Having studied humor from a therapeutic clowning perspective, it seemed appropriate to try and apply it to the computer science field. After all, humor has so many positive implications for our daily lives -- bettering interpersonal relationships, communication and interaction. Humor's impact is being studied in labs across the globe concerning Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction.

I hope the research for my MA in HCI thesis will add to this conversation.

The first step has been to evaluate whether a non-humanoid robot can communicate a humorous experience through gestures alone.

The research is far from done... but the journey is happening.