Design and Development of an Emotional Interaction Robot, Mung

Authors: Kim, Eun Ho; Kwak, Sonya S.; Hyun, Kyung Hak; Kim, Soo Hyun; Kwak, Yoon Keun

Source: Advanced Robotics, Volume 23, Number 6, 2009 , pp. 767-784(18)

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Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to develop an interactive and emotional robot that is designed with passive characteristics and a delicate interaction concept using the interaction response: 'Bruises and complexion color due to emotional stimuli'. In order to overcome the mismatch of cue realism issues that cause the Uncanny Valley, an emotional interaction robot, Mung, was developed with a simple design composed of a body and two eyes. Mung could recognize human emotions from human-robot or human-human verbal communications. The developed robot expresses its emotions according to its emotional state modeled by a mass-spring-damper system with an elastic-hysteresis spring. The robot displays a bruise when it is in a negative emotional state, the same as a human becomes bruised when being physically hurt, and the robot shows a natural complexion when its emotional wound is removed. The effectiveness of the emotional expression using color with the concepts of bruising and complexion colors is qualified, and the feasibility of the developed robot was tested in several exhibitions and field trials.

Keywords: EMOTIONAL INTERACTION ROBOT; INTELLIGENT ROBOTS; HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION; SPEECH EMOTION RECOGNITION; EMOTIONAL MODEL

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156855309X431712

Affiliations: 1: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Mechanical, Aerospace & Systems Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea

Publication date: 2009-04-01