Plan a clear status legend for an animated desk companion
Agent Pet is a robot-shaped desktop companion with an LCD face. If a confirmed integration lets you use its display for task information, an expressive character still needs a clear legend. A smile, idle animation or other visual pose can be interpreted in several ways. Define what each supported state means before relying on it as evidence about work.
What does each expression establish?
Tie the displayed state to an observable source fact, such as a selected task awaiting review. Avoid broad meanings like everything is good when the integration only checks one process. Keep completion, success and human approval separate whenever the workflow distinguishes them.
Use only states that the actual device-control method supports. A concept sketch can illustrate a proposed mapping, but it is not proof that a specific animation can be selected programmatically. Mark unverified parts of the design until the relevant capability is documented or tested.
How will the user identify the task?
Keep the selected task visible in a companion interface or another clear reference. A character expression without scope can leave the user guessing which job produced it. When selection changes, avoid briefly showing the new task reference alongside the old task's result.
Provide a readable text description of the same state. This reduces dependence on interpreting expressions or colours and helps when the device is hard to see. The source record should remain the place to inspect detailed evidence and make any decision about the output.
What does stale information look like?
Define a supported way to express uncertainty, or show it in the companion text when the physical device cannot communicate it clearly. A retained animation after a disconnect should not imply that the source has just been checked.
Store source freshness separately from display activity. An animation continuing to move proves only that the display is doing something, not that the task information remains current. Require a fresh observation before restoring a confident task status after an outage.
How should the legend be evaluated?
Show the proposed meanings to someone unfamiliar with the implementation and ask what action each one suggests. Include error, unavailable and review-needed conditions, not just a cheerful success example. Revise wording that leads to different interpretations.
Test the state mapping with controlled events before connecting a live source, then trace one suitable real update end to end. The Agent Pet hardware information describes the physical companion; a reliable operational legend comes from verified control capabilities and explicit source-state meanings.