Will Jackson and his team of researchers at Engineered Arts in Penryn, UK, have developed an interactive, one of its kind bot known as SociBot-Mini. The robot distinctive attribute is its face that is capable of displaying distinct moods and can react to expressions of individuals looking at it.
The bot standing 60 centimeter high can wear your friend’s face and can predict your age and mood you are in. A digital projector, backlit the plastic face of the robot that has an outline for eyes, nose, cheekbones, forehead, chin and mouth. It can exhibit a common face or can project the face of a friend or colleague using its headshot, making it more like humans. The robot is equipped with a depth sensing camera to gauge different gestures and a webcam to recognize facial expression of the person standing in front of it. The computer vision software helps it to understand the individual’s mood.
The bot is designed to comprehend speech. Though the chatbot software installed, limits the bot conversation storing capacity. Jackson has even tested the bot for telecommuting purposes with his colleagues. He further adds the bot can be still be improved in terms of graphics and its refinements. Once this is achieved the robot can perform extraordinary in videoconferencing. The 3D experience that the bot provides, will eliminate the monotony of 2D.
The designers of the robots plan to place it as futuristic information station at a shopping mall, bank, airport, tourist information center or theme park that would interact with people. And a lighter version of the robot is on its ways, which can be used in the home use.
Do share your views on SociBot-Mini and its different applications.
