Jun 23, 2009 7:49 am US/Pacific
New 'Emotional' Robot Unveiled In Japan
Humanoid Robot Uses Whole Face And Body To Express Emotion
TOKYO (CBS) ―
-
-
Humanoid robot KOBIAN shows an emotional display of "disgust" during a demonstration at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, on June 23, 2009.
Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
A walking humanoid robot that is able to use its whole face and body to express emotion was unveiled on Tuesday in Japan.
The robot was created by scientists at Tokyo's Waseda University and is thought to be the first of its kind according to its makers.
It is able to express a range of different emotions, including happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, anger and disgust, by opening and closing its eyes, moving its lips and eyebrows, and using its arms and legs.
The robot is installed with 48 "actuators" which allow its face and body to move in a variety of ways.
It shows happiness by opening its eyes and mouth wide and raising its arms, and sorrow by drooping its head and covering its eyes.
The robot's hands are covered with a soft material which is supposed to replicate the feeling of a human hand.
Professor Atsuo Takanishi and his team at Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, spent the last two and a half years creating the robot, which they called "KOBIAN".
Takanishi believes KOBIAN is the first robot able to express emotion with its entire body.
He said the ability to express feeling was an "important factor" in achieving "natural communication" between robots and humans.
The professor hopes robots such as KOBIAN could be used in the future to help elderly people with housework and in nursing homes.
But he said the robot was still at the prototype stage and was not yet able to interact with humans emotionally apart from through its set of pre-programmed responses.
Takanishi said it could be several decades before robots such as KOBIAN can be used to help people in their homes.
Waseda University set up the Humanoid Robotics Institute in April 2000 to carry out research on creating new relationships between humans and machines.
According to its website, the institute hopes to create a robot which will eventually experience the same patterns of thought and behavior as a human being.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
