November 8, 2011

Robotics researchers develop a new robot face that can talk and respond like humans

by yogesh

Robotics researchers at the Institute for Cognitive Systems ICS at TU Munchen in collaboration with Japanese scientists have developed a new robot face that can talk and respond like humans. 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. Mask-bot can already reproduce simple dialog. To replicate facial expressions, Takaaki Kuratate developed a talking head animation engine – a system in which a computer filters an extensive series of face motion data from people collected by a motion capture system and selects the facial expressions that best match a specific sound, called a phoneme, when it is being spoken.

This part of the new system could soon be deployed in video conferences. Usually, participants are shown on screen. With Mask-bot, however, you can create a realistic replica of a person that actually sits and speaks with you at the conference table. You can use a generic mask for male and female, or you can provide a custom-made mask for each person, explains Takaaki Kuratate. Mask-bot can realistically reproduce content typed via a keyboard – in English, Japanese and soon German. A powerful text-to-speech system converts text to audio signals, producing a female or male voice, which can then set to quiet or loud, happy or sad, all at the touch of a button.