Robot consciousness and representation of facial expressions

Abstract

The humanoid robot we developed is capable of changing its facial expressions according to simple artificial consciousness and stream of consciousness. We think that consciousness consists basically of ‘language and its associative stream’ and ‘representation of feelings related to the language.’ The robot named Kansei, a Japanese term referring to emotion, achieves linguistic association similar to a stream of consciousness and represents its feelings according to the associations through artificial consciousness. The robot is equipped with an artificial cranium made of aluminium which contains 19 servomotors inside it. For the surface of the face, we use polyurethane, a relatively soft material which creates a shape that is closely mimics a human face. Facial expressions are formed on the polyurethane by pulling it into shape via metal wires attached to the 19 internal servomotors. Besides the six basic facial expressions such as happiness and anger, the robot can also make complex expressions that include both happiness and fear.