Mask-bot - life size talking head robot head

We introduce our life-size talking head robotic system, ``Mask-bot'', developed as a platform to support and accelerate human-robot communication research.
The ``Mask-bot'' output hardware consists of
- a semi-transparent plain mask,
- a portable LED projector mounted behind the mask,
- a fish-eye conversion lens attached to the projector, and
- a pan-tilt unit and a mounting base.
The system projects calibrated 3D face animation onto the mask and it becomes a life-size talking head in real space as opposed to 2D flat screen space or stereo pseudo-3D screen space.
OpenHRI (http://openhri.net) were used to add speech recognition and synthesis capability to the system.

Team Members:
- Dr. Takaaki Kuratate http://web.ics.ei.tum.de/~kura
- Brennand Pierce http://web.ics.ei.tum.de/~bren
- Prof. Dr. Gordon Cheng http://web.mac.com/gordoncheng
- Dr. Yousuke Matsusaka (AIST) http://staff.aist.go.jp/yosuke.matsusaka/

Publications:
- AVSP2011 http://mediatum.ub.tum.de/node?id=1083675
- Humanoids2011 (links will be available soon)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• face
• animation
• robot

[mezcestro]

creepy...

[johnson1095]

it looks too jerky

[evilsquirrel302]

does anybody else want to watch that baby video. But is kind of scared that when you click on it something scary will pop up or something.

[Nicolettasimmons]

Cool but I wish the audio was better :/

[batinsse]

I'm actually terrified.

[Deleta]

what's up with those eyebrows? lol o.O seriously it looks like it's worried or in pain or something o__o"

[finefin]

welcome to the uncanny valley...

[Dea1dea]

creepy as hell.

[nohsek2991]

this is pretty impressive, but I could barely understand what the bot was saying over all the noise.

[Saerain]

I really want to see brain imaging of the people who experience the Uncanny Valley and figure out what the hell is wrong with them.

[ReploideY]

Terrifiying

[pHappyfeet]

I don't like it.