Museum guide robot moving its head for smooth communication while watching visitors

[著者版]総務省戦略的情報通信研究開発推進制度(SCOPE) 特定領域重点型研究開発 次世代ヒューマンインタフェース・コンテンツ技術 視覚情報に基づく人間とロボットの対面およびネットワークコミュニケーション(051303007) 平成17年度〜平成19年度 総務省戦略的情報通信研究開発推進制度(SCOPE) 研究成果報告書(平成20年3月) 研究代表者 久野 義徳(埼玉大学大学院理工学研究科 教授)より転載Face and head movement plays an important role in communication. We observe situations and human actions through vision to obtain information necessary for smooth communication. In order to develop robots that can coexist with humans, it is necessary to take into account vision. In this paper, we will discuss a museum guide robot that can move its head in a communicative way while explaining exhibits to visitors as well as detect human faces during the explanation of exhibits. We use the analytical results from human behavior to determine and program the robot head movements. We also developed a face detection system so that the guide robot can use visual information to conduct guiding. We developed the system with which the robot starts explaining after having detected a visitor's continuous gaze towards the robot based on the experiment result