Robotics researchers in Munich have joined forces with Japanese
scientists to develop an ingenious technical solution that gives robots a
human face. By using a projector to beam the 3D image of a face onto
the back of a plastic mask, and a computer to control voice and facial
expressions, the researchers have succeeded in creating Mask-bot, a
startlingly human-like plastic head. Yet even before this technology is
used to give robots of the future a human face, it may well soon be used
to create avatars for participants in video conferences.
The project is part of research being carried out at CoTeSys, Munich's robotics Cluster of Excellence. Mask-bot
can already reproduce simple dialog. When Dr. Takaaki Kuratate says
"rainbow," for example, Mask-bot flutters its eyelids and responds with
an astoundingly elaborate sentence on the subject: "When the sunlight
strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow."
And when it talks, Mask-bot also moves its head a little and raises its
eyebrows to create a knowledgeable impression.
What at first looks deceptively like a real talking person is actually
the prototype of a new robot face that a team at the Institute for
Cognitive Systems (ICS) at TU München has developed in collaboration
with a group in Japan. "Mask-bot will influence the way in which we
humans communicate with robots in the future," predicts Prof. Gordon
Cheng, head of the ICS team. The researchers developed several
innovations in the course of creating Mask-bot.
Source:sciencedaily.com