DocumentCode :
2615372
Title :
“Mask-bot”: A life-size robot head using talking head animation for human-robot communication
Author :
Kuratate, Taakaki ; Matsusaka, Yosuke ; Pierce, Brennand ; Cheng, Gordon
Author_Institution :
Inst. for Cognitive Syst., Tech. Univ. Munich, Munich, Germany
fYear :
2011
fDate :
26-28 Oct. 2011
Firstpage :
99
Lastpage :
104
Abstract :
In this paper, we introduce our life-size talking head robotic system, "Mask-bot", developed as a platform to support and accelerate human-robot communication research. The "Mask-bot" hardware consists of a semi-transparent plain mask, a portable LED projector with a fish-eye conversion lens mounted behind the mask, a pan-tilt unit and a mounting base. The hardware is driven by a software animation engine controlling face model selection and calibration augmented by an OpenHRI-based speech communication module that generates text-to-speech responses for conversational exchanges. The system projects the calibrated animated head onto the mask. Via this process the head becomes a life-size talking head in real space as opposed to 2D flat screen space or stereo pseudo-3D screen space. "Mask-bot" can easily change the appearance and behavior of the face model, affording the means for easily evaluating new face platforms for a variety of characteristics, including AV speech synthesis and perception, without building a new actual robotic head, thus accelerating the design cycle for robot heads.
Keywords :
computer animation; human-robot interaction; humanoid robots; speech synthesis; AV speech synthesis; Mask-bot; face model selection; human-robot communication; life-size talking head robotic system; software animation engine; text-to-speech responses; Animation; Face; Lenses; Robots; Solid modeling; Three dimensional displays;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Humanoid Robots (Humanoids), 2011 11th IEEE-RAS International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Bled
ISSN :
2164-0572
Print_ISBN :
978-1-61284-866-2
Electronic_ISBN :
2164-0572
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/Humanoids.2011.6100842
Filename :
6100842
Link To Document :
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