Researchers in Japan Make Android Child’s Face Strikingly More Expressive

The newly developed face of the Affetto child android robot. Affetto’s face was first revealed in published research in 2011.

Credit: Osaka University

A trio of researchers at Osaka University has now found a method for identifying and quantitatively evaluating facial movements on their android robot child head. Named Affetto, the android’s first-generation model was reported in a 2011 publication. The researchers have now found a system to make the second-generation Affetto more expressive. Their findings offer a path for androids to express greater ranges of emotion, and ultimately have deeper interaction with humans.

Credit: Osaka University

The researchers reported their findings in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI.

“Surface deformations are a key issue in controlling android faces,” study co-author Minoru Asada explains. “Movements of their soft facial skin create instability, and this is a big hardware problem we grapple with. We sought a better way to measure and control it.”

The researchers investigated 116 different facial points on Affetto to measure its three-dimensional movement. Facial points were underpinned by so-called deformation units. Each unit comprises a set of mechanisms that create a distinctive facial contortion, such as lowering or raising of part of a lip or eyelid. Measurements from these were then subjected to a mathematical model to quantify their surface motion patterns.

While the researchers encountered challenges in balancing the applied force and in adjusting the synthetic skin, they were able to employ their system to adjust the deformation units for precise control of Affetto’s facial surface motions.

“Android robot faces have persisted in being a black box problem: they have been implemented but have only been judged in vague and general terms,” study first author Hisashi Ishihara says. “Our precise findings will let us effectively control android facial movements to introduce more nuanced expressions, such as smiling and frowning.”

 

Contacts and sources:
Hisashi Ishihara, Ph.D., Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
Osaka University

Citation: Identification and Evaluation of the Face System of a Child Android Robot Affetto for Surface Motion Design.
Hisashi Ishihara, Binyi Wu, Minoru Asada. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2018; 5 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2018.00119