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- Offer Profile
- Our objective is to develop
technologies for the new generation information infrastructures based on
Computer Vision, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
Videos 1-6: copyright Prof. Ishiguro in Osaka University and Kokoro Co., Ltd. -
All rights reserved
Videos 7-14:
copyright ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories - All rights
reserved
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Android Science: Towards a new methodology of cognitive
science
- Both appearance and behavior are significant issues in
the development of humanoid robots. However, designing the robot's
appearance, especially to give it a humanoid one, was always a role of the
industrial designer. To tackle the problem of appearance and behavior, two
approaches are necessary: one from robotics and the other from cognitive
science. The approach from robotics tries to build very humanlike robots
based on knowledge from cognitive science. The approach from cognitive
science uses the robot for verifying hypotheses for understanding humans. We
call this cross-interdisciplinary framework android science.
Integration of science and engineering
uncanny valley
- A fundamental issue in android science is the existence
of the uncanny valley. As robots appear more human, they seem more familiar,
until a point is reached at which subtle imperfections create a sensation of
strangeness or eeriness. Our important role is to verify the existence of
the uncanny valley and to explore how to overcome the uncanny valley problem
with androids.
Androids: Repliee Q1expo: Repliee Q2: 'An adult type
android'
- Repliee Q2 is an upgraded version of Repliee Q1. The
face of Repliee Q2 has become more humanlike. Furthermore, it has 13 DoFs in
the head so that it can make some facial expressions and mouth shapes. We
have shown Repliee Q2 with the name of Repliee Q1expo at the World Expo held
in Aichi, Japan in June, 2005. In the demonstrations, Repliee Q1expo
interacted with people by impersonating a tv interviewer. Repliee Q1expo had
omnidirectional cameras and microphones surrounding her and tactile sensors
embedded under a carpet and could recognize a person's gestures, voice, and
standing position.
Repliee Q2
- Adult android: it has 42 air actuators in the upper
torso. The appearance is realized by making a copy of an existing person.
Repliee Q2
- Degree of freedom:
- Eyes: 3
- Face:
Eyebrows: x 1, EyeLids: x 1, Cheeks: x 1
- Mouth: 7
- Neck: 3
- Arms: 9x2
- Fingers: 2x2
- Torso: 4
Repliee Q2
- Facial expressions of the adult android: 13 of the 42
actuators are used in the head. Humanlike facial expressions are realized by
the motion of the eyes and mouth.
Repliee Q1 'An adult type android'
- Natural communication with humans in everyday
situations is one of the most important functions of humanoid robots. We
think that humanlike appearance and motion are very important. A humanoid
robot which has these qualities is called "an android".
An android needs to possess the same motion mechanisms as a human to perform
humanlike motion. If an android has such mechanisms, however, it is
difficult to balance with humanlike appearance. We developed Repliee Q1 in
collaboration with KOKORO, Inc. Repliee Q1 has a humanlike appearance and 31
degrees of freedom in the upper body, so the android is able to reproduce
humanlike motion. Repliee Q1 Expo has been upgraded to 41 degrees of
freedom, allowing for a greater number of humanlike motions. All of the
joints are controlled by air actuators. An air actuator has a damping
characteristic, so we can control the android softly without compliance
control. Repliee Q1: Natural communication
-
Repliee Q1 : Appearance and touch
- The skin of Repliee Q1 is made of silicone, so the
appearance and the touch are humanlike. High sensitivity skin sensors, which
use a piezoelectric element, are attached in 11 places; on the brow, cheeks,
shoulders, upper arms, forearms, and palms. The sensor can output a value
according to the modification speed of the element, so the android can
respond in various ways reactions depending on how it is touched.
Repliee Q1: Degree of freedom
- Degree of freedom:
- Eyes: 5
- Mouth: 1
- Neck: 3
- Arms: 9x2
- Torso: 4
Androids: An Android robot whose appearance is humanlike
'Repliee R1'
- Appearance and motion are important to the impression
a robot makes on people during communication between humans and robots. When
using existing robots it is hard to measure whether appearance or motion is
more important. However, using a robot with humanlike appearance, we can
research the effect of motion alone, and then we can also research the
effect of appearance.
- This android has 9 degree of freedom in her head. She can move her
eyes, eyelids, mouth, and neck.
- Its body is covered with silicone, so the skin feels humanlike.
- And it has 4 high sensitivity skin sensors under the skin.
Repliee R1
- This Android robot looks like a human in detail, because
this Android robot was created from a model of a human being.
Repliee R1
- Detailed view of the inside.
Repliee R1
- Skin is made of silicone and the inside is made from
urethane.
GEMINOID
- Appropriate teleoperation methods
It is necessary to study the method to tele-operate an android in order to
convey “presence”, which is quite different with traditional teleoperation
for mobile robots and industrial robots. We will study a method to
autonomously control an android by transferring a motion of an operator
measured by a motion capturing system. Also, a method to autonomously
control eye-gaze and small motion will be investigated.
Natural behavior production matched with speech utterances on teleoperation
We will investigate how to produce natural behaviors during speech
utterances, in order to transmit “presence” by tele-operation of an android.
Besides the information transmitted by words during speech utterances, we
will study the effects on non-verbal communication, by investigating not
only synchronization of speech and lip movements, but also the effects of
facial expressions, head and even the whole body movements.
Understanding and transmitting Human Presence
We will investigate the effect of transmitting “Sonzai-Kan” from a remote
place, such as participating to a meeting instead of the person himself.
Moreover, we will investigate “what is presence” through experiments. For
example, we will study whether the android can represent authority of the
person himself, by comparing the person himself and the android.