Despite much research on companion robots and affective virtual characters, a comprehensive discussion on a generic architecture is lacking. We compile a list of possible requirements of a companion robot and propose a generic architecture based on this list. We explain this architecture to uncover issues that merit discussion. The architecture can be used as a framework for programming companion robots. 							
						
							
					 															
					Bas R. Steunebrink, Nieske L. Vergunst, Christian