Taban”:A Retro-Projected Social Robotic - Head for Human-Robot Interaction

Abstract

The most crucial physical component in human-robot interaction is the head of the robot, which may have the potential to interact via representing facial expressions. There are several different types of robotic heads. This paper presents the design process and realization of a retro-projected social robotic head, “Taban”. Taban is a cost-effective portable robot with a lifelike robotic face which can produce different facial expressions, different 3D face animation avatars (ranging from different ages, races, and gender) with the help of rear-projector in its head to projects animations onto a translucent 3D printout mask. It has a neck system with two degrees of freedom, a camera in the forehead and a Kinect sensor in its torso for facial expression/gesture recognition, and environmental visualization. Moreover, the robot has a microphone array for sound localization, two speakers and a touch screen tablet which is used to enrich and control the interaction scenarios with the individuals. The fabricated robotic head has a highly flexible facial system for both practical and research applications.