Motion generation in android robots during laughing speech

Abstract

We are dealing with the problem of generating natural human-like motions during speech in android robots, which have human-like appearances. So far, automatic generation methods have been proposed for lip and head motions of tele-presence robots, based on the speech signal of the tele-operator. In the present study, we aim for extending the speech-driven motion generation methods for laughing speech, since laughter often occurs in natural dialogue interactions and may cause miscommunication if there is mismatch between audio and visual modalities. Based on analysis results of human behaviors during laughing speech, we proposed a motion generation method given the speech signal and the laughing speech intervals. Subjective experiments were conducted using our android robot by generating five different motion types, considering several modalities. Evaluation results show the effectiveness of controlling different parts of the face, head and upper body (eyelid narrowing, lip corner/cheek raising, eye blinking, head motion and upper body motion control).