Study on natural head motion in waiting state with receptionist robot SAYA that has human-like appearance

Abstract

Android robots that have a human-like appearance have been developed recently. The purpose of android robots is to realize realistic communication between human and robot by implementation of human-like behaviors. Then knowledge and techniques for generating human-like natural motions and behaviors with android robot are required. In human, head and body are moved consciously or unconsciously even while waiting. Therefore it is thought that moving SAYA's head and body in waiting state like human beings improves humanity of SAYA. Thus, in this study, we tried to realize human-like head motion in waiting state with SAYA. Firstly, we measured human head motion and time-dependent three head rotation angles were obtained in waiting state by using motion capture system. We then analyzed human head motions and we proposed random walk model based on characteristics of human head motions for SAYAs motions. Then we implemented natural head motions to SAYA. Finally, we verified that head motions in waiting state affected the humanity of SAYA, and it greatly enhanced emotional impression of human by subjective experiment